Apprentice
by One Winged Royko
Summary: Even the smallest person can change the course of the future. Everything will link back to the beginning. Complete! Currently being revised for more realistic characterization!
1. I Intro

"An epic tale embark I now to write, of you whose deeds give voice to silent muse."- Eurek, Final Fantasy XII

Hello, this is my first story. I know the first couple chapters may not be the most interesting, but please stick with me through to the end. I promise, it gets better. **FANART ON MY PROFILE**

**I need to make a couple things perfectly clear before you move on. This is _not _a romance story, and it never will be. This story is about trying to save Sephiroth, nothing more. **

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but Rin.**

* * *

Within the office of Dr. Hojo, papers rustled as he checked over the documents.

_Specimen 4 responding well to treatment. Requesting permission to proceed to Step 3 of experiment._

Hojo scribbled his name and put the paper in the 'Done' pile. He went on to the next file, grumbling about how much paperwork ShinRa gave him. Opening the file, he grabbed the first sheet.

_On July 6, Specimen 9 reached 7 years of age. Experiment R was executed flawlessly. Requesting permission to proceed to Experiment R² and transport Specimen 9 to Headquarters_.

He let out another long, weary sigh. After signing his name, he put the paper aside and read the other papers containing more information, including the status of the specimen and experiment details. He made notes about preparing it a cell and wrote down the names of the assistants he would need, and placed the reminder with the others. They were beginning to pile up…

Getting up, Hojo decided that was enough paperwork for today. Yelling at his assistants to finish it, he headed back to his quarters. A brilliant, no, genius scientist needs his sleep, right?

'_Hmmmm, Experiment R² will be interesting. I just hope Sephiroth is up for the job! I've never seen him around children before...and he's never even had an assistant before, let alone an apprentice!'_

Laughing evilly to himself as he walked, all the passing people knew he had something sinister up his sleeve….

* * *

"Check status! Releasing tank!"

"Status confirmed! Proceed."

I heard voices for the first time in a month. _Sounds like they're finally going to let me out. Woo…. _I had been in there because I had gotten severely injured from one of their 'test specimens'. I pretty much got mauled. So they stick me in a mako tank for a while, and bingo, all better.

I fell out of the tank, landing in a pathetic heap on the floor. Two assistants helped me up into a sitting position, and checked my eyes, heart rate, and breathing, before dragging me to my cell. To my relief, it was the same one as before.

They dropped me on the bed, and the nice assistant said she'd come back with clothes in a little while. That puzzled me. Usually the only clothes they give us experiments are a white shirt and pants, and that was only if we were important. Luckily, I was.

I laid down on the bed. It was just cot with grey sheets. A hole here and there. The cell was like all the others. Rock walls, rock ceiling, and rock floors. Nice, huh?

You're probably wondering who I am, right? Let's see…a name? The scientists only call me Specimen 9, or Experiment R, but a few assistants named me Rin. I think was my name before they took me…but I can't remember. My parents were both Turks, but they died on a mission in Wutai when I was two. At least that's what they told me. I believe I am seven years old, but my literary skills and thought processes are much more mature for my age. I think it has something to do with the mako… I have purple eyes for some reason, I think my mother did. My hair is a very, very dark violet, it almost looks black. It's rather short, cut at a little past my shoulders. I have lots of scars from injections and from training.

Fighting was really the only fun thing they let me do here. It was always against monsters though, created either on purpose or by accident. I myself started out as a regular baby, but got mako injections on a regular basis. They put me through numerous tests, to see how quickly I was progressing compared to a normal child. Walking, talking, reading, writing, math… All that stuff.

One of the assistants came back. Like she said, she had a set of clothes with her. But these were… nice.

"Here they are! You will be departing for Midgar in a couple of days, so I chose some nice clothes for you! I hope you like them." she chirped, and set them down next to me. I only stared at her.

Keeping a calm exterior, I picked up the clothes. The assistant smiled and then left, shutting the cell door quietly. She left me black boots, a pair pants made out of a durable material that were slightly too big for me, a dark blue t-shirt, and a sturdy looking vest with many pockets. Again, black. There was also a pair of undergarments, and a belt.

I put all of this on, except the boots and vest, and laid back down on the cot. I was trying to get used to the unusual feeling of the fabric against me. Sighing, I resigned to staring at the ceiling till I fell asleep.

An assistant soon woke me up to escort me to the labs. She was different from the one who brought me my clothes. She didn't look at me, and only said to follow her. I put on the boots and vest and got up. She led me to a room with a table and a few chairs. She sat me down, and left. I looked about the room: White walls, white ceiling, and tiled floor. I wonder why most of the rooms are like that. Do they have no room for creativity?

A man entered. I recognized him as the deputy head scientist, Dr. Kerris. He preformed all of the monthly examinations, supervised the area where I fight monsters, and did all major mako injections. He was like a down-scaled version of Hojo. Everyone here knows Hojo, even the experiments like me. He makes sure of it.

He came over to the table, and sat down across from me.

"Hello," he said in an annoying voice, "Nice clothes. Melissa must have taken pity on you." I didn't reply, and he didn't expect me to. "I will just need you fill out this form for Professor Hojo, he will look at it when you arrive in Midgar. Then we will have to perform one last physical today. You will depart tomorrow." And with that, he left a piece of paper on the table, along with a pen, and left.

I looked at the paper:

_1. What is your name?_

_2. What is your estimated age?_

_3. How long have you been an experiment?_

_4. Have you been trained in combat?_

Let's see….

1. Rin

2. Seven

3. Five years?

4. Yes

Well, that was easy. I flipped it over, and cursed silently. There were a number of difficult looking questions, pertaining to mathematics, literature, science, and geology. I could find no reason for these, other than Hojo wanting to test my intelligence. I answered them all, as they looked harder than they were. They were only worded badly, making it confusing if you do not pay attention. I was taught all I know in sessions after my fighting lessons, and tested on it. They said it was to see how long I could retain knowledge. I can remember everything I learned, even now.

After I finished, I sat there for about a half an hour. Then the same assistant that escorted me here came in, and led me back to the room where all the mako tanks were. As I walked in, I looked inside the tanks, and saw other children, like me. I've never met any of them, though. They don't want us to form attachments. The only one I knew well was my normal counterpart, the girl they compare me to for the experiment. I feel sorry for her, because for all the times that I've come close to dying, she's come closer and way more often. She also takes longer to heal than I do.

Aside from the mako tanks, there were examining tables, computers, and some other machines. A normal physical consists of taking blood samples to test mako levels, as well as to check for any kind viruses or bacteria that cause disease. This is to check if the mako can or will cause illnesses or diseases. But so far, no experiment has shown anything for concern, other than extreme mako poisoning.

After blood, you get CAT scans, and an X-Ray to check how the mako and other substances affect your body. They ask you if you've been feeling any pain, and how well wounds heal. Then they do a series of tests to check your senses, which includes sight, hearing, and smell. Finally, they look into your eyes, and record how much more, or how much less, they shine.

They do all this, and have someone escort me back to my cell. The tests have worn me out so much that I fall right asleep, not even bothering to remove my boots.


	2. II Experiments

Hey, second chapter up! I'll try not to make this one as short as the first.

**FANART ON MY PROFILE**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but Rin.**

* * *

I assumed it was the next morning when they woke me up, as there are no windows in my cell. It had been so nice, sleeping in a bed for once. Floating in a tank gets boring after a while. And I had a dream! Even though I can't recall any of it, I know I had one! The assistant that woke told me to get up and follow him. He looked very impatient.

Slowly sitting up, and rubbing my eyes, I yawned. Standing up, I even smoothed my clothes just to spite him. He rolled his eyes and exited the cell. Smiling inwardly, I followed. He led me to a spiral staircase that looked very old. We climbed it, and came out of a hidden door in the wall. We went down some hallways and came to a room. This wasn't like any of the rooms I've ever been in. The walls were decorated, with a white ceiling, and carpeted floors. There were bookshelves, pictures on the walls, and comfy looking chairs and tables scattered around the room.

"You will wait here. I will be back with some food soon." The assistant said quickly.

And with that, he left, and I went to sit in a chair. I looked at the pictures framed on the walls. They were of people I've never seen, landscapes unfamiliar to me. Then again, I have no memories of anything except this mansion. I can't even remember anything of my parents, or where we lived.

Mindlessly, I combed my fingers through the mess that was my hair. I did this whenever I was bored. Whilst untangling my hair, I examined they couple of bookshelves in the room. I got up, and walked over to one. Skimming over the book titles, I realized they were all scientific. Smiling, I picked one. The title read 'Explanations of Dreams and the Thought Process of Humans'.

_Mmmmmm, psychology. My favorite..._

Psychology is awesome. I like science in general, but psychology, biology, and physics will always be on top. I also would like to read a couple of books on fighting, swords, and other weapons one day. I grew up around nothing but science and violence. Besides fighting, reading is the only other thing I really like to do.

Sitting back down in the chair, I opened the book. I skipped to the intro to the section on dreams and subconscious organization. I read a few pages, but then the assistant returned with food. He had a bowl of something that resembled soup, and a cup of water. He set it down in front of me, and glanced at the book I was reading.

"Hmph, good luck reading _that._" he said, skeptical.

Glaring at me, he left, slamming the door behind him. I just blinked. I wondered why people are mean to others, when they haven't even gotten to know them... It made me angry, because most of the scientists and assistants act that way, like everyone else is beneath them. Ignoring the food for now, I glanced back at the book, and smiled. Skipping ahead to the thought process section, I indulged myself.

After about ten minutes of reading, I put it back on the shelf where I found it. Returning to the food, I drank the soup and water quickly. But something wasn't right. After I downed the food, I began to feel dizzy and lightheaded. I slouched back on the chair, holding my head, before passing out, and falling out of the chair.

* * *

When I awoke, I was in a glass tank, filled with nothing but air. Apparently, I was in a large lab area. There were a few more glass tanks, and one had another specimen in it. It was a large, lion-like creature with red fur, and tail with a flame ending it. There was _'XIII'_ tattooed on his shoulder. However, he was asleep in ball, and I doubt he could hear me through both tanks.

A man walked in. Even I knew who he was. He wore a white lab coat, and had black, long, greasy hair tied in a ponytail. Glasses made his eyes appear small, and he looked at me with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Well, well, well," He said in a nasal voice. "Awake, are we? Now I can proceed..."

He trailed off, going over to the large desk, and sitting down. After clicking something on his computer, he yelled for some assistants. They came over and opened the tank. I jumped out, and they beckoned me to follow them. Hojo got up and followed also. We went into another room, a surgery room by the looks of it. All of a sudden, one big assistant, or bodyguard by his strength, just picks me up, and drops me on a surgical table. He straps me onto it with little difficulty, even though I was struggling. He then steps back as Hojo steps forward.

"There there now, calm down. Only a simple injection for you." He said, annoyed.

I still struggled, though it was useless. He grabbed my bare arm, and held out his hand to an assistant.

"Second dose of Jenova cells." He demanded rudely.

The assistant handed a syringe of green liquid, then backed off. Hojo took it, and carefully selected a vain. Sharply jabbing it into the large vain in my arm, the liquid flowed inside me. I screamed, it burned, and I could feel it running through me. Screaming once more, and struggling even more violently now, I managed to loosen the straps a little. But there was still no chance of escape. Finally I ceased my struggling, and passed out.

* * *

Normal P.O.V.

"Injection successful. Put it back into its tank, and tell Sephiroth to meet me in my office in an hour." Hojo ordered. He was feeling quite cheerful that her body, once again, didn't reject the cells. This made everything so much easier.

**_Two hours later…_**

Sephiroth walked up to Hojo's laboratory. He got a message to report to his office, which puzzled him.

_Why would that bastard want to see me, right after I got back from a mission? It better be important..._

As he walked into the labs, Hojo's secretary told him to go into his office. Sephiroth entered, without knocking, like he always did, and slammed the door just for fun. This startled the professor, and Hojo glared up at him.

"Finally here, are we? Half an hour late... Just as expected."

"I had a mission. I just got back. What do you want?"

Hojo grinned up at him. "Take a seat, _boy_." Sephiroth sat, in the chair opposite him, eyes narrowed.

"Well?"

All he wanted to do was go back to his quarters, and sleep for a few days. Hojo will defiantly cause some headaches...

"Five years ago, we received a child from two Turks, who both died on a mission in Wutai. It was two years old, so I decided to use it for Experiment R. It consists of an initial Jenova cell injection, and periodic mako treatments. We taught it literary skills, but more importantly, fighting skills. This was done over a period of five years, and phase one of the experiment is completed. So we moved it here, to complete phase two."

Sephiroth was listening with his arms crossed, and looking at the desk in between them.

"And this concerns me how?" He asked, in a toneless voice.

Hojo grinned. Not good.

"Phase two consists of another Jenova cell injection, which I administered myself, once she got here, and sparser mako treatments. Also, her physical training in the art of fighting will be...intensified. Properly trained, so to say."

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed again. He did not like where this was going.

"You better not mean by me..." He said in a dangerous tone.

Hojo only grinned, and chuckled slightly.

"Why, who else? She will become your apprentice. It's a learning experience for both of you. She learns how to fight properly, and I get to see how you behave around children. Hehehehe..."

Sephiroth's eye twitched slightly, but it was so slight Hojo didn't see it. _A child... a girl?_

_"_Why would you choose a female infant?"

Hojo's expression changed to a somewhat annoyed one.

"She was the only infant who accepted the Jenova cells. If a male had, I would have used it. But that doesn't matter."

He pushed up his glasses, a sign that meant he was about to drone.

"Besides training, you will bring her along on all your missions, and she will reside in one of your quarter's guest rooms. I have had studying material prepared to continue her education; you must make sure she completes it. As for mako treatments, just bring her along when you come for yours. I will perform a physical examination, and a series of fighting and written tests to see if her intelligence and strength has improved." Hojo looked at him critically. "And if it doesn't, _you _will remedial training as well as the specimen, so I suggest you put forth your best effort."

Though his expression did not change, Sephiroth's mind was reeling

_Me, take care of a child? An apprentice? I've never even had an assistant... Well, this _can't _be permanent._

"I know nothing of child care. Don't I have any say in this?" Sephiroth asked, with a slightly angry tone.

"Why, no, you do not. I'm sure you can get your SOLDIER friends to help you... Hewley and Rhapsodos, aren't they? They should know more than you do..."

"Then why not give _them_ the girl, instead of me?"

"Because you are the hero, not them." He said simply, grinning.

"Will she go to school? ShinRa's Academy?" He spoke with an indifferent tone, but he was hoping the answer was yes...

Hojo frowned at this. "I wouldn't suggest it. It's not a normal child, but it could have its benefits…" Hojo seemed to be talking more to himself than the silver haired General. Finally, he said "I'll consider it. Let it wait a month or so..."

"What about SOLDIER?" The scientist glared at him before replying.

"When I deem her ready! Shouldn't be more than a few years…"

"You expect me to watch her for that long?"

Now it was Hojo who narrowed his eyes.

"Stop being so worried, _boy. _She will receive her own quarters when she's old enough." He pushed his glasses up again. "You may leave now. I will call you up again when she awakens."

Sephiroth got up slowly, and left, heading back to his quarters, still trying to soak in all of the information.

_He didn't even tell me her name, the bastard. I'm not going to deal with this… I'm going to find a way to get rid of this pest as soon as possible. No one will make me suffer the humiliation of child care!_

* * *

If anyone wants to beta for me, I'd love them forever!


	3. III Sword

**Fan Art is on my profile! Thanks to all the wonderful artists who made it for me!**

* * *

When I awoke, I was back in the glass tank. But this time, the lion-like creature in the next tank was awake as well. He was lying down, massive paws neatly tucked beneath him, and staring at me with intelligent, amber eyes. When he saw my purple gaze, he almost seemed to smile, before turning away, and curling back up into a ball.

I sat there for about an hour, combing my hair, untying and re-tying my boots. I really wished I had a book. If I had one, I could read, and re-read it all day. I tried to fall asleep again, but I was filled with energy. I wanted to do something, and I had an urge to hit something. So I simply got up, and went over to the side of the tank.

_Maybe…just maybe, if I hit the side of the tank hard enough, I'll break?_ So I tried. And tried again. No luck. I was now sporting a hurting hand, though. The banging had awoken the lion, and he glared at me before returning to sleep. I gave him an apologetic smile, then sat down, hugged my knees, and tried to also fall asleep.

It turned out that my banging had also summoned an assistant to see what was going on. She came running in, her heeled shoes clicking on the floor. She looked around and saw that I was awake. The assistant smiled, and I glared at her, before she turned away, and ran back to where ever she came from.

I sighed. I sat there for about ten more minutes, before Hojo himself came walking in, with a couple of assistants. Hojo glared up at me, before telling an assistant to call up Sephiroth. I wondered who Sephiroth was; his name seemed vaguely familiar, maybe a couple scientists had talked about him?

Hojo walked over to my tank, and released it. After jumping out, I stared about the lab.

"Sephiroth will be here soon, so don't run off." He said rudely, and turned to go sit at his desk.

"…Who's Sephiroth?" I asked.

This seemed to surprise Hojo. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"I don't _have _to tell you, but I suppose you might panic if I didn't." He paused, pushing up his glasses, and returned to typing something on his computer. "Sephiroth is the General of SOLDIER. As part of this experiment, you will become his apprentice until you are old enough to join SOLDIER. He is coming right now to take you. That is why I have taken you out of the tank."

I just blinked. I didn't really care who Sephiroth was, if it meant getting out of here. I knew SOLDIER was the elite fighting force of the company, because most of the experiments concerning them were performed in the same lab as mine.

"Why…don't you just wait until I'm old enough to join…SOLDIER?"

"Feeling talkative, are we?" he said with a sneer, "This training will greatly enhance your fighting abilities. When you join SOLDIER, you will have a much easier time climbing the ranks. Also, I want to see how Sephiroth behaves around children, such as you, and as a teacher."

He stopped again, and glared at me.

"You behave just like Sephiroth did when he was your age. I don't want you hanging around here like he had to. He was always such a little pest. So I'm simply getting rid of you now, and gaining some information as well!"

I simply just stared back at him, until he turned his gaze back to the computer. Obviously, this guy liked to hear his own voice. Crossing my arms, and tilting my head back to face the ceiling, I closed my eyes and waited. About five minutes later, an assistant came walking in, escorting a man with long, silver hair. The harsh light of the lab reflected mercilessly off the silver pauldrons he wore, which were attached to his leather coat. Hojo got up, a scowl on his face, and the assistant left.

"Finally. How long does it take to get here, _boy_?" He fixed his glasses again.

Ignoring Hojo, the silver haired man turned his piercing jade gaze to me, which had slitted pupils like a cat's. His eyes studied my purple ones. He turned back to the professor.

"Is this her?" He asked tonelessly.

"Yes. Take her and leave. I have work to do!" Hojo said, in a bad mood.

The man beckoned me to follow him. I got up, glaring at Hojo once more, but was writing something again. I walked behind the man, who I presumed was Sephiroth. He walked quickly, as this building was probably very large. As we walked into a glass elevator, he pressed the 1st floor button, and the doors shut. It was a beautiful sight, Midgar. I finally worked up the courage to say something. He seemed to be waiting for it.

"So…you're Sephiroth?" I asked, still looking over Midgar.

"Yes. And what's your name?"

"Rin"

He nodded, and we stepped out of the elevator. We were now in a large entrance hall that had two grand staircases, with a red carpet running down the middle of both. At the top of the stairs, where we were, there was a café looking place, with round tables and stools. Down the stairs, there were people running around, and an information counter. The receptionist looked lonely.

We went down the right staircase, and through the exit. It looked about mid-day.

"Where are we going?" I asked, confused.

"To the Weapons Shop" He replied, simply.

I gave him a startled look.

"You need a sword." He answered, to my silent question.

"Oh…" I was starting to get a heavy feeling in my stomach, maybe something akin to dread? Would being with this man be any better than being in the lab? He seemed just as cold and heartless as the scientists.

As we walked through the city, I couldn't help but stare. There were people everywhere, from nicely dressed people, people in uniform, and people in rags. There were vendors, beggars, infantrymen, and people just walking to their jobs. The air out here was so different from the labs. Out here, the air was…dirty? Natural? I don't know. Just different.

Then I noticed other people staring at us. Sephiroth must get a lot of attention. His eyes were set forward, focusing on the destination, and not looking back at any of the people. I increased my pace, getting a little closer to Sephiroth, not wanting to get lost in the sea of people. He acknowledged me with a glance, and then returned his gaze forward.

We arrived at the Sector Three Weapons Shop. As we entered, all eyes turned to us, but after a few glares from Sephiroth, the people went back to their business. He led me to the section where the swords were kept. Some were hanging on the wall or resting in glass cases, but most simply sat on wooden display tables.

"In the future, you might have another weapon besides a sword," He said quietly. "But for now, and throughout most of SOLDIER, your primary weapon will be a sword."

"Ok..." I said, trusting him to know best. I certainly wasn't about to argue with him.

He started to look down the rows of katanas, so I did also. There were swords of all shapes, sizes, colors, and designs. Katanas, broadswords, knives, daggers, it was all here. He picked up a few, examined the blade, and put it back. I simply looked at the beautiful swords. Sephiroth picked up a katana with a violet-wrapped hilt, with a few stray golden wires braided into the purple. He looked at the blade, which seemed to gain his approval. I sighed. I guess the color purple follows me... Sephiroth slipped the sword back into its sheath, and carried it to a counter. I followed him, hands in my pockets, and looking at the floor. The fact that he didn't care for my approval didn't escape my notice. But again, I reminded myself that I was in no position to demand anything.

He paid for the sword, and we walked outside the shop. He gave it to me, and I tied it to my belt.

"Umm, thanks...Sephiroth." I said, quietly.

He simply looked at me, with the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

"Hn."

* * *

Normal P.O.V.

* * *

While walking back to the ShinRa building, Sephiroth's cell phone rang. He answered.

"Sephiroth" He answered, still walking, with Rin behind him.

"Hey, it's Genesis. Me and Angeal are going to the Paper Lantern for dinner. You know, the new Wutain restaurant. You wanna come? We haven't hung out in ages." Genesis's voice drawled, being over dramatic as usual. Sephiroth glanced back at the girl, who was still looking around curiously. He wasn't about to let this forced burden ruin one of the few chances he had to relax with his friends.

"Sure. I'll be there in about an hour."

"Okay. See you then, Seph"

Scowling at the nickname, he flipped his phone shut and put it away. It was just barley starting to get dark.

They continued to the building, and to the floor where 1st class SOLDIER operatives resided. There was a floor for 3rd, 2nd, and 1st classes. Being general, Sephiroth had the largest apartment out of all three floors. It had four bedrooms, a large kitchen, living room, dining room, and two bathrooms.

Sephiroth and Rin walked in. To Sephiroth, this was little more than a place to sleep comfortably, get clean, and get coffee. The only furniture that was there was the stuff that ShinRa provided. Which was basically a king-sized everything. Being a General does have its advantages. Two bedrooms had king-sized beds, and the other two had queen sized. All four had a wardrobe, a dresser, and a table with plush chairs. There were bookshelves in the living room, Sephiroth's room, and a guest room. The whole apartment, aside from the bathrooms, had nice hardwood floors. The two bathrooms had large, sand colored tiles. The kitchen had everything, but Sephiroth really only used the refrigerator and the coffee maker. It had finely crafted cabinets and beautiful granite counter tops, everything spotless. The living room had two leather couches and a matching recliner. The coffee table was glass, and littered with various papers. Sephiroth usually tossed them there when he got home, and looked at them later.

Sephiroth led Rin to one of the spare bedrooms, one with a queen-sized bed. He had chosen it because she might be overwhelmed by a king-sized, and this room featured the extra bookshelf. Rin walked in with wide eyes, with Sephiroth standing in the doorway.

"You can have this room. You may read, exercise, or rest if you wish. Help yourself to food from the kitchen. Don't leave the apartment. I have to go meet some people, I should be back in a couple of hours."

He said it all tonelessly, while looking at Rin, who just went to sit over by the large bookshelf in the room.

"Okay" She replied in a distracted voice, intent on reading. Sephiroth 'hn'ed in response, and headed for the door. Soon the girl was only a distant problem in his mind.

* * *

It's not that hard to review, you know. Just click, type, and click!


	4. IV SOLDIERs

Check out the fanart on my profile! This chapter has been rewritten slightly!

* * *

About a half an hour after Sephiroth left, I was hanging upside down from my new bed, reading a book. There were also various titles sitting on the ground next to my head.

Believe it or not, there was a reason as to why I was like that. Once Sephiroth left, I took off my boots, vest, and sword, and put them away. Then I had sat down over to the bookshelf and read all the titles. Grabbing about ten, I walked over to one of the comfy-looking chairs by the window and sat down. That didn't end up working for me, and neither did the floor. I'm not sure why. It just didn't feel right, I guess. So next, I tried just sitting on the bed. This also didn't work, and I figured out why. I was getting sleepy. Apparently, _Historic, Current, and Future Automobiles_wasn't that interesting. So I tried hanging off the side of the queen-sized bed, and it worked quite nicely. The blood in my head made me concentrate better.

I didn't know why someone like Sephiroth would even have a book like this. Maybe it was already here…? I dropped it onto the pile of books on the floor, and picked up another. Flipping it upside down, I read off the spine- _Sword Guide Vol. 3: Long Swords and Broad Swords._

I lazily flipped through it. I explained how to take care of and properly wield swords that are more than five feet in length. 'Interesting. Volume three? Perhaps he has the volume on katanas….'

I got up, and went back to the bookshelf, trying to remember where I got this one… 'Ah. Volume One: _Daggers and Knives_. Two: _Shortswords and Scimitars_. Volume three was currently over in the pile by my bed…Four: _Katanas and Other Wutain Weapons_.' I took out volume four, and returned to my perch. This time, I read carefully how to properly store, clean, and attack with my blade.

* * *

Normal P.O.V.

* * *

Sephiroth sat in the Sector Six restaurant, the Paper Lantern. Genesis was doing most of the talking, with occasional nods and sounds of agreement from Sephiroth and Angeal. The general's eyes were on his plate, eyeing the food before him. To him, G's voice was just as important as the music you could hear playing softly in the background. But when he asked Sephiroth a question directly, he snaped back into reality.

"So what's new, Seph? I hear you have a long-time mission, now? What is it? Tell us!" Genesis whined, being over dramatic. Angeal rolled his eyes minutely, and turned his gaze to Sephiroth.

"Yes, what is it?"

Sephiroth stared at them for a second, before replying.

"I have to take this…child, as my apprentice. One of Hojo's experiments."

Genesis and Angeal just stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to continue.

"Her name is Rin, and she's seven years old. She's going to join SOLDIER when she's old enough." Sephiroth said quietly, his mouth a thin line. "She is at my place now, probably sleeping." He paused. "She's a lot like I was when I was younger…Her intelligence far exceeds her age, and I'm sure she can hold her own in a fight. If there's one thing you learn in Hojo's care, that would be it."

Genesis found his voice again. "Wow, Seph taking care of a kid… Never would've imagined it…When can we meet her?" His voice was now back to its normal emotional state.

"I'm going to start training her tomorrow. I bought her a katana today, before I came here."

Angeal spoke up. "Would you mind if Zack and I trained with you? I'm sure he'd get a kick out of it…"

Sephiroth nodded, not really caring, and continued to eat. It was getting dark out now; he guessed it was around 7? Once he was finished, he got up, and bid his friends goodbye. They responded likewise, but resolved to stay and have a few drinks.

When Sephiroth returned to the ShinRa building, and went up to his apartment, he found Rin asleep on the floor in her room, with a pile of books next to her. Sighing to himself, he picked her up and placed her on the bed, and returned the books to their place in the bookshelf. He hoped in the future that Rin wouldn't be this lazy, and keep her room clean.

_She was probably just tired._Though Sephiroth wearily, before retiring to his own bed.

* * *

Rin's P.O.V.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I was back in my bed, instead of on the floor. I had meant to get into bed last night, but never did; I was very confused as to why I woke up in bed if I didn't fall asleep there. Then my memory caught up with me, and I remembered that I now lived with Sephiroth. Sighing, I looked over the side of the bed. No books. They were back on the bookshelf in neat rows.

Slowly getting up, I threw my legs over the side of the heavenly bed, and stood up. Walking over to the wardrobe, I pulled on some clean clothes and boots. Going over to my sword, which was resting against the wall next to the door, I grabbed it and sat back down on my bed. Whilst running my fingers through my hair, I looked over the katana, which was straight. I studied the blurred line where the blade met the unsharpened edge- the book said this feature was unique to each blade, and proves it was made correctly. Katanas are made differently from the swords used by SOLDIERs: while katanas have only one edge, that one edge is much sharper than other swords that have two edges. This allows it to slice trough things as thick as a human leg without difficulty, as long as you use proper technique.

Putting it back in its sheath, I attached the sword to my belt, and walked out the living room. Sephiroth was there, with a cup of coffee, looking over some papers that were on the table.

"You should go have something to eat before we leave. There's cereal and other things in the kitchen."

"Okay…" I said groggily.

I went into the kitchen, and walked over to the cupboard to get some corn flakes. I grabbed milk from the fridge and sat down at the table. Eating slowly, I wondered what we were going to do today. Perhaps start training? Sephiroth didn't look like the type to take time to bond. 'Or maybe he bonds while sparring… That's probably how he gets to know a person, by their fighting style.'

I put my dishes in the sink, and washed them. Sephiroth walked in when I was putting them back.

"We're leaving for the SOLDIER training room. A friend of mine is meeting us there for a joint training session."

Sephiroth headed to the door. I followed him, my hand on my sword hilt. I found it quite relaxing to have a weapon. It makes you feel unstoppable.

We went into the elevator, and I once again gazed over Midgar. It was so big…I want to explore it all…

"The SOLDIER floor is 49. Remember that."

"Yes, sir."

He grinned. I decided to be a little more respectful, as I would, without doubt, be facing him eventually.

"When we get to the training room, there should be two SOLDIERs there. A First class and a Second class. I don't expect you to be able to beat the second class, but… We'll see."

I only grinned back at him, excited to be able to fight and get some exercise.

The SOLDIER floor was simple. It was shaped sort of like a circle. Besides the elevators, there were three doors on the floor, each differently colored. Going to the right, we went past the briefing room, which was yellow. The materia room's door was red, and the door we went into, the training room, was blue. There was also an area opposite the elevators for relaxing, with nice, big windows for an awesome view of the city.

In the training room, there were a couple of scientists. I glared at them, but they didn't seem to be crazy like Hojo. In the inner chamber, there were two men sparring. One had a black uniform, and a giant sword attached to his back. The other had a blue uniform, and a standard issue SOLDIER sword.

Sephiroth and I walked into the inner chamber, and greeted them. The general shook hands with the man in black, and looked at the one in blue. Last night, I read that the uniforms they're wearing were SOLDIER uniforms: Black means First class, dark blue and purple are Second class, and light blue are Third. I also found out how they attach swords to their backs with no sheath; there is a strong magnet on the straps of their armor, and it only attracts the metal the swords were made of, which is a special kind of steel.

Sephiroth introduced them. "Rin, this is Angeal Hewley, First Class. And this is…" He trailed off, trying to remember his name.

"Zack Fair! Second Class!" The man shouted, clearly excited to meet the general. "I wouldn't expect you to know my name, sir…" Zack was smiling, and I guessed he did a lot. Spiky black hair, and eyes the color of the sky.

I stepped forward. "My name is Rin. I am Sephiroth's apprentice" I said calmly, shaking both of their hands firmly.

"Nice to meet ya." Replied Zack.

"Same here." Angeal was much more calm and collected, with black hair and black eyes. He didn't use the enormous sword on his back, but a sword identical to Zack's. That confused me. Why not use the bigger one? Maybe he was just going easy on Zack…

"Ready to start?" asked Sephiroth, stepping back with Angeal. "You and Zack can begin with barehanded fighting, until we say stop." Zack reattached his sword to his back, and set his gaze on me.

"I have to fight a little girl? C'mon Angeal, that isn't fair!"

"What's the matter, Zack? You afraid you're gonna lose?" I whispered. I wanted to fight already_._ Angeal didn't acknowledge Zack at all; he and Sephiroth were talking about something.

Zack glared at me, frowning, and pretending to be mad.

"Hey, I can so beat your-" He was cut off by my roundhouse kick to the chest, and he stumbled back a few paces. The first class SOLDIERs still weren't paying attention to us, and continued talking. He got back up, and came toward me, with a smile.

"Alright, we can play nice, can't we?"

I blocked all of his punches, but he was a lot stronger than me, so I just tried to dodge everything. Didn't want him to know that, though.

I managed to kick him again, and he threw a kick back at me. For most of the fight, I blocked, and took openings in Zack's attacks. But when he actually hit my face, my eyes hardened, and _I_ went on the attack. Rapidly punching and kicking at different speeds, I able to throw Zack off. I kicked at the back of his knees, and he lost his balance. I gave a final kick to his stomach, and he went flying a few feet. He skidded on his back, and lay there, giving up. I went to go stand over him.

"Oww…Man, I'm not going easy on you anymore!" Zack grinned, and sat up.

Angeal walked over to us to us. "Alright. You two can have a five minute break before you continue." He looked at me. "Give me your sword. I will block the edge."

I unsheathed my beautiful sword slowly, hearing it ring. I flipped it over and handed it over hilt first. He took it, and used a Barrier materia on the blade. He grabbed it to demonstrate; his hand was not actually touching the metal. It stopped about a quarter of an inch away.

"It's new. This reduces injuries when training and it doesn't affect the fighting ability at all. But…"

He whacked Zack with my sword, who then doubled over and let out a loud groan.

"If you hit someone in the neck with this, it'll probably crush their windpipe. So still be careful. I already did this to Zack's weapon earlier."

He handed my sword back to me, hilt first, and I nodded. Angeal stepped back to Sephiroth, who was now watching with interest.

"Begin."

Zack and I crossed blades, and we started.

About an hour later, both of us were exhausted. Zack and I sat down next to each other near Sephiroth and Angeal, still arguing who won.

"You lost your sword five times, Zack. I lost mine four times."

"Nuh uh! I only lost it four times, and you cheated by punching me!"

"I did not cheat; we set no rules against it." I stuck my tongue out at him, and sipped from a water bottle. I could tell he could perform a lot better than he just did. But you take what you can get.

* * *

This sort of routine continued for the first couple weeks I was under Sephiroth's care, except the training itself was much more intense than that first sparring session. Most of the time it was just me and Sephiroth, but sometimes Zack and Angeal would join us.

Sephiroth was a very harsh teacher, but effective nonetheless. He was quick to point out mistakes and flaws in my technique and form, but was not condescending about it. After all, this was the first time I had ever received proper instruction on how to fight. Whenever he spotted a flaw, he quickly exploited it; usually sending me either on a painful trip to the floor, or a brief flight through the air only to have an equally painful meeting with a wall/the floor.

This way, I soon learned from my mistakes, and made steady progress throughout the first few weeks. After the first day my body had felt like it had been chewed up and spat out by a Bahamut, making the next day a very excruciating one. By the third week however, I found that all the exercises Sephiroth put me through were no longer agonizing, but easy. Practice makes perfect, right?

When Sephiroth had to leave me to go do General-duty things, he would load up a simulated mission for me to try. When he returned he would check on my progress and assess my performance; if he was pleased, he would load up a very weak hologram of Zack, himself, or another First class, and let me go at it. Sometimes I won; sometimes I didn't. I always had a great time though, trying to show off to Sephiroth and whoever else happened to be in VR room what I had learned and what I was capable of.

* * *

It was a little after noon, and I was in a joint training session with Zack and Angeal. Zack and I were doing squats, when the silver-haired General's phone rang. He answered it, and a few moments later scowled and hung up.

"Alright." Sephiroth began. "I just received a call from the director. All four of us have to leave for a mission first thing tomorrow. Genesis will also be coming. Apparently, there is a mass of monsters that has suddenly appeared in the area surrounding Rocket Town. They seem to have come from Mt. Nibel. We are to eliminate them all, and find out why they all suddenly appeared. We'll be there a couple of days."

Zack looked very happy at being able to work with the general, and he had a huge smile on his face.

"Awesome! I can't wait! I'm going to go pack right now!" Zack ran out, reattaching his blade to his back.

Sephiroth turned to me. "We should also go. Angeal, we will meet you, Genesis, and the boy at noon."

"Alright. Get her something to eat before you leave, okay?"

Sephiroth nodded, and I followed him out of the training room. I was tired, and just wanted to sleep, but I also wanted to go out on the mission. Shaking my head to fight off weariness, I stretched out my arms.

"You've been doing well, Rin. You impress me."

"Hm. I want to fight the real you one day."

"You will, eventually."

"Soon?"

"Maybe"

I fell silent, not wanting to annoy him.

"We just have to pack medical supplies, and camping equipment as we will be going into the mountains."

"I'm excited to see more of the world. It must be boring to stay here all of the time."

"It is. I don't get sent on nearly enough missions to want to come back here."

We arrived at Sephiroth's apartment, and I went to my room for a short nap. I wanted to pack now, but as soon as I hit the bed, I was out of it. I just hoped Sephiroth would wake me before it was time to leave.

* * *

More chapters shall be rewritten...can't believe I've put it off this long... reviews are love!


	5. V Airship

**FAMART ON MY PROFILE**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, only Rin. **

* * *

I awoke about a half an hour later, by meeting the floor. Groaning, I picked myself up, and glared at Sephiroth, who was smirking down at me.

"Hn. I thought you would have more stamina than that. You might be able to rest on the way to Rocket Town, we're taking an airship." He began to walk out into the living room. "Hurry up and pack…"

Sighing, I went over to the wardrobe and took out a black messenger bag. I stuffed in sword supplies that I got from training yesterday, four books, and a small mirror. I also put some materia like Barrier and Restore in a special pouch in my pack. I had also received those from Angeal, though I did not know how to use them.

I dragged the pack over to my dresser, and put a large shirt, a pair of shorts, and other clothes I might need later. The shirt and shorts were for sleeping, I guess... I didn't really know what to expect. While Sephiroth and I were training, he had someone deliver other clothes for me.

"I think that's all…"

Slinging the pack over my shoulder, and reattaching my blade to my belt, I walked out to the living room, where Sephiroth was waiting.

* * *

The journey to Rocket Town was….interesting. We met Genesis when we reached the airship, about a mile from Midgar. He was leaning against the Strahl, reading some book. When he saw the four of us, he snapped the book shut and walked over. He greeted Sephiroth and Angeal, and shook Zack's hand. Then he looked over to me, and kneeled down to my level.

"Well well, hello little girl," he paused a moment, "is this the apprentice Sephy was speaking of? You're shorter than I thought."

"You're Genesis? You look more like a girl than I do." Genesis narrowed his eyes to slits.

"She's blunt, just like you Seph."

The general only smirked. So did everyone else, excluding G, who was pouting. Angeal spoke next.

"C'mon, let's get going." Everyone turned and went to board the airship, the Strahl. Zack came up next to me, elbowing me in the side, and crouched next to me.

"Hehehe, nice one Rin! You better be careful though, even Genesis can get Sephiroth pretty involved in a fight. Don't underestimate him." He said with all seriousness. I barley caught sight of Genesis smirk, talking to Angeal and Sephiroth in front of us.

"Yah well, maybe if he contained his composure and wasn't so arrogant, people would take him more seriously, like Sephiroth." This time, it was Sephiroth's turn to smirk.

* * *

The airship was HUGE. The window in the helm was as wide as whole room, so the captain could see everything. Angeal, Sephiroth, and Genesis went into a meeting hall to discuss the plan of action in more detail. Zack and I went off to explore the ship.

"Wow, this thing is so big…" Zack walked next to me with his arms behind his head. Zack's stomach gave a large growl and he blushed a bit. "Ugh, lets go find the kitchen, I'm starving."

There was a map of the ship in the hallway but Zack said he didn't need it. I took a quick glance at it before running to catch up with Zack.

"I don't need a stink'n map, it can't be that hard to find." Of course, Zack got lost, but I knew that we were near the computer room. The kitchen was on the other side of the ship.

"Follow me, _my _instincts tell me that we have to go _this _way." I started walking and Zack pouted but caught up with me and let me lead. When we got to the kitchen Zack ran in and took a large sandwich and soda, and ran out. I went in more slowly and got a large piece of chocolate cake. I wanted to make sure I would have enough energy in case Zack challenged me again.

I followed him into the cafeteria, and went over to the table he was sitting at. When Zack saw my cake, his mouth fell open and some sandwich fell out of it.

"Where did you get that?" Zack pointed to the cake.

"Uh, the kitchen?" I said rolling my eyes and sat down. The cafeteria was a rectangular room next to the kitchen. Zack got up and ran back into the kitchen completely neglecting his sandwich. I heard a large crash and the chef shouting and then Zack burst out of the kitchen with a plate of cake under his arm. He dashed back what was let of his sandwich and popped the rest of it in his mouth. He added some of his soda and gulped the thing down. Then he turned his attention to the cake he had and ate it slowly like me, while suggesting different things to do.

"Sooo, I'm bored. What do you wanna do, Rin? We could train, bother the captain, eavesdrop on the others…"

I hadn't really been paying attention to him list things he wanted to do, because the cake was really good, but the last drew my interest.

"What was that, Zack?"

"Start a food fight?"

"No, the one before that."

"Eavesdrop?"

"Yeah."

"Okay okay! But let me finish this first, pleaaase?"

I sighed, and ate the rest of my cake. Zack shouldn't take too long too finish, as he started shoving large chunks of the sweet stuff into his mouth. Gulping it all down, he burped, and got up.

"Let's goooo! C'mon Rin!"

Jeez, this guy has _way_ too much energy.

* * *

Normal P.O.V.

Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal lounged in the meeting room. There was a large oak table in the middle of the room, with comfy chairs surrounding it. Paintings of random things hung on the walls, and there was even a window showing clouds zooming by.

The three of them had been discussing the mission plan.

1. Question villagers about the attacks

2. Rent a form of transportation if necessary and investigate the area of sightings

3. Kill any threats they come across.

That's how most missions went, as far as monster complaints. But, apparently, there has been more than attacks. Earthquakes have been occurring for the first time in that area, and they're severe. ShinRa is starting become concerned for the safety of the rocket housed in the village. If it's damaged, or worse, it'll cost billions of gil to repair or replace.

Sephiroth figured that that's the reason for sending three first class SOLDIERs, to insure the rocket's safety. And besides, a monster has to be pretty strong to create earthquakes of that magnitude, but he doubted it'll be a problem for the five of them.

Sephiroth paused, thinking. Until he knew of the strength of the monsters, he wouldn't let Rin fight. She still hasn't mastered her katana, and until she does, he won't risk anything.

"Okay, we will check with the rocket pilot when we arrive on the status of the vessel, and of the status on the town." Angeal read of their notes, frowning slightly. "Has this pilot even flown a rocket before? A rocket has never been launched before…"

"He's the future pilot, Angeal. He's an expert on airships and aero-technology. In fact, ShinRa's top airship, the Highwind, used to be his." Genesis drawled, without looking up from _Loveless._

He wasn't interested at all, and hoped that the mission wouldn't take too long. Maybe exercise his sword a bit, but no doubt Sephiroth would take care of everything, especially with Rin here.

"Well, all we have to do is kill the things making to quakes, and that's that." Sephiroth got up. "We should reach Rocket Town in a half an hour. I'm going to find Rin."

"I'm going to speak to the captain. He can't head back until our business here is completed."

Angeal also got up, and left, leaving Genesis alone to read his book and quote aloud to himself.

In the room next to the meeting room, two sets looked at each other. Waiting until they heard two pairs of feet go by, they ran out of the room, and down to the cafeteria, careful to avoid Sephiroth until they got there.

* * *

Sephiroth had found Rin and Zack lounging in the cafeteria, talking about materia. They looked up as he approached their table.

"Hey. We should arrive in about a half an hour. I want you to be ready and waiting in the helm in twenty minutes, so we can go over the mission plans before we leave."

Zack and Rin looked at each other, then back at Sephiroth, and nodded, with smiles.

Sephiroth walked out of the cafeteria and walked in the direction of the helm. Zack and Rin let out their held breath in unison, relieved.

"Phew, I thought we were toast…"

"Why? It's not like they were talking about anything important…"

They got up, and stretched.

"Okay, let's go get ready…"

They headed to the room where all of their supplies were being kept. Zack grabbed his sword, and examined it. The captain had made them remove all weapons when they boarded the ship. Rin grabbed her blade, and attached it to her belt. Zack tossed her an armlet, a ShinRa Alpha.

"It's a standard issue armor piece. Put your materia in the slots."

"Thanks Zack."

Rin smiled at him, and strapped it onto her left arm. Picking up her bag, she took out her few materia: a Barrier, A Restore, and a Lightning materia. She was anxious to try them out, and blast away things just by thinking it.

Also taking strips of cloth into her pockets just in case, she re-laced her boots tighter, and twirled her sword around a couple of times, before sheathing it with a ring. Zack did this too, except he spun it in one hand around his head, before setting it on his back.

"Let's head up to the helm."


	6. VI Chocobos

-Munches on some pocky- Hey, I want to thank all of my fantastic reviewers for their help, my sister who helped me through my writers block by summoning plot bunnies for me, and _TheGreatMillz33_for the pocky! . I'm sorry that I haven't been updating as soon as you'd like me to, as I've been very busy. I won't go into details here, but if you want them, go check my profile. Please enjoy!

NOTE: I have changed some things-well, EVERYTHING mostly in this chapter, to fit better with my ~future~ plans -evil grin- I hope you like it!

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own nothing, only Rin.**

**FANART ON MY PROFILE**

* * *

All five of them stood in the helm, waiting for touchdown. The ship was lurching everywhere, and Zack fell over several times.

Sephiroth and Rin stood next to each other, with their arms crossed, and braced themselves for the shaking. Therefore, they did not fall over. Genesis and Angeal also did this, but G was still reading, and Angeal, who also crossed his arms, just looked at the metal floor.

Zack picked himself up again, and hung onto the wall.

"Jeez, are we there yet?" He shouted to the captain.

"Hey! If you want off, then jump! Get off my back! We'll be there in about 5 minutes!" He trailed off. "Damn kids…Impatient…"

"Hmph. And you're the _supposed _cousin of that legendary airship pilot, _old man_?"

Zack's head meet the wall again from a violent bump.

"You better believe it, kid. Good pilots and engineers run in the Highwind family!"

After that, bother of them became quiet. Zack stood back up, and pouted slightly.

* * *

Rin's P.O.V.

We finally touched down near Rocket Town. We located the residence of the elder of the village, but he wasn't there. His wife said that he was probably looking at the stupid rocket again.

"Sephiroth, what's the point of even having a space program? It must not be very important…"

"People, like great scientists and philosophers, wish to know more about our far surroundings. People like the president want to know if there is alternative energy or metal sources besides the ones we already have, and for other life forms to dominate." He frowned at the thought. "Besides, some magic and summons come from outer space. Some wish to know where they come from."

I blinked at him. That's interesting. Summons? As in the red materia? She had read that they were very powerful, made by the energy of a strong creature crystallized in mako. There was a legend of thirteen impossibly strong warriors that became a summon, called 'Knights of the Round'. From what was in the book, I don't think that even Sephiroth could beat all of them.

There were also others, like the many forms of the great dragon, Bahamut. It would be so awesome to find a summon, and rub Zack's face in it! I could fry his butt in a second…

I snapped out of my daydreaming as we came to a halt in front of the great rocket. It was…enormous. How something like that could get off the ground was beyond me. Genesis walked up to the old man looking at the colossal ship.

"Hey, are you the elder? We're the SOLDIERs ShinRa sent." He walked up to him, and stood by the fence, glancing up at the rocket.

We followed G, and stood around the old man. Angeal spoke.

"We need you to tell us more about the unusual occurrences concerning Mt. Nibel before we can act."

"Why sure. Please, why don't we go on over to my home?"

So we went back the way we came, and soon enough, we were seating in his living room.

"My name is Griffin Redskye. I'm so sorry to trouble ShinRa, but I am concerned for the rocket's safety with all of these earthquakes. Now there have also been mudslides near the mountains, making traveling with anything other than special chocobo's dangerous." He paused, glancing at us, especially me. "Most people don't bother to go south anymore. Not even the geologists."

"We assure you, we can handle anything that's up in those mountains." Angeal said confidently, and we all nodded.

"What of the child? Is she to remain here?" Redskye asked, who obviously did not catch on at the sight of my blade.

"Hey, I can hold my own against anything you throw at me! Those monsters wont stand a chance…" I frowned, and crossed my arms. I can see this being a problem in the future. This is the only downside to being young. People don't take you seriously. I thought that Sephiroth's presence would be enough erase any of that, but I guess I was wrong.

Sighing, I sat back down. The three first class SOLDIERs continues to talk to the old man. I glanced at Zack, glaring at him. He was looking at me with a hint of a smile. Bastard.

* * *

The elder said we could take chocobo's from the stable near the south edge of town. As we were walking, Zack decided to test my nerves.

"So Rin, have you ridden a chocobo before? They're really fluffy and have these feathers that spike up all over the place…They come in all sorts of colors, and the colors depend on what the choboco can do. Like green ones can run mountains, blue ones can walk over water, black ones can do both, and then there's the legendary _golden _chocobo!"

I raised an eyebrow. Golden? "And what's so special about them? They blind their enemies with their shining coats?" I asked, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No! They have the power to cross entire oceans!"

I just stared at him. Ha, like any chocobo can walk on _water…_

"Yah right Zack. You're just yanking my chain…"

"Nuh uh! It's true! Right Angeal?"

The first class turned his head back to us.

"Sorry Rin. He's right on this one."

"Ha! In your face! I was right! Haaha!"

I decided I didn't like so Zack smug, so I grabbed his arm and yanked back, while planting my foot on the back of his knee. And down he went, landing heavily on his back.

Spitting out dirt, he scrambled up, and brushed himself off.

"That wasn't nice! I should stop letting you beat me up…"

"Hmph. And you plan on making first anytime soon…?"

"Hey! You just watch! I'll be the greatest hero ever!"

Sephiroth glanced back at us, with a frown.

"Stop shouting. Your attracting unnecessary attention."

Zack smile vanished, and he looked away with his arms behind his head, with a pout. I Sephiroth 'Hn'ed, and turned back.

"We're here."

* * *

The chocobo stable was nice. It's very convenient for people who need to cross the mountains quickly. The most popular chocobo they have here is green, but we would require the higher class black ones. Not wanting to be unprepared for anything, it was the safest way to go.

Sephiroth walked up to the handler, whose eyes widened at the sight of the platinum SOLDIER.

"We will require five of the black ones." His serious tone made the man jump to go retrieve the desired birds. Genesis sighed, and put away his book, an unpleasant look on his face.

The handler returned leading five majestic birds the color of the night sky. The chocobo's already had sturdy leather saddles strapped to them, complete with reins and bridles. Sephiroth gave the man another look, and he left to go tend to the others.

I went over to pet one, and he lowered his head so I could ruffle his feathers. The bird's dark eyes shone, and he was making 'wark' sounds. The blackish grayish feathers were glossy and smooth to the touch.

"Aww, whose a cute little birdy?"

"Wark!"

The others went over to a chocobo and mounted them, except for Genesis, who sneezed. I raised an eyebrow at this. So did Zack.

"So, your allergic to chocobo's, huh Genesis?" I asked innocently. He glared at me, and sneezed again.

"No, I just need to use Esuna…" I reached into his pocket, and drew out a light green Materia. At first, I thought it was Restore. But upon focusing harder, I realized it was Heal materia.

"Esuna!" The materia glowed, and Genesis gave one last sneeze. He put it away, and grinned. "See? All better."

Well, I won't be forgetting this. The grin on Zack's face said he won't be either. I climbed onto my chocobo, and held the reins.

"Alright, we need to search the mountains thoroughly. I doubt that the monster causing the natural disasters will be hard to find, but there may be more than one." Sephiroth said, this while urging his chocobo into a run, with the rest of us following him.

* * *

We continued to ride through the night, and the chill of darkness cloaked the mountains. Blackspike had fallen asleep in his saddle, which was not surprising. The chocobo was smart enough, however, to follow the others, even with its master unconscious. Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis showed no signs of weariness, and constantly swept their gazes across the mountains.

I, however, was also getting tired. It was getting hard to keep my eyes open, let alone focused on anything. Right now, I was wishing I had sleeves, because it was getting colder out here by the minute.

I rubbed my hands over my arms, and let out a sigh. We haven't encountered any fiends yet, not even small ones. Zack said it was because they could sense the first classes' power, and decided to stay away. If something attacked them, it would have to be pretty confident.

My vision was getting…darker…darker…darker…and just as I was to join Zack in slumber…

"What the...?" Angeal voiced his surprise, and it made me jolt awake. What could possible be THAT interesting... At first it was hard to see, but...

Shadows. Not just the ordinary shadows that cloaked everything at night, like it was now, but deeper, _darker _shadows. And they were moving. What ever they were, the chocobos freaked, and mine dumped me on the ground and fled. Zack's did also, and he woke up as he met the round.

"Wasa go'n on?" He said sleepily, not noticing the eerie shadows advancing on us. Then a sudden chill seemed to creep up his back, and he eyed the deep, inky pools surrounding us.

"What in the Lifestream...?" He asked, looking to the three heroes for answers, who had dismounted their fleeing chocobo's gracefully.

They quickly made their way over to Zack and I, and we all stood back to back, swords drawn. The night made it difficult to see what the shadows were doing, but with our enhanced senses, we could make out forms rising from the darkness around us. Creatures that stood up to about mid-thigh on me, but more like knee-length on the SOLDIERs. Inky black, they had two zigzagging antennae coming from their heads, and bright, pupiless yellow eyes. Long, thin fingers clawed at the air, ad its head twitched left and right constantly.

By now, there were at least a hundred of them, and they were still spawning from the darkness. Now, there was also another kind of them: It looked more human-like, but was still very short,-not much taller than the shadows. It was mostly blue, with a strangle red-and-black heart on its chest. Red-tipped fingers and a seemingly armored head, which also sported yellow eyes, summed up the creature.

Whatever they were, they weren't attacking yet, but I could feel their malicious intent.

"Um, guys? Any ideal on what the hell these things are?" Asked Zack, but he received no answer as the first wave of the monsters jumped into the air, intent on smothering us under their sheer numbers.

Sephiroth just smirked, and with a mighty leap, charged, leaving the rest of us to attack in a different direction. Probably around three hundred enemies total by now, and they surrounded us on all sides.

As i began my own onslaught, one word ran through my head...

_Heartless..._

_

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_

Sorry if its short. As I said earlier, this chapter was different, but thanks to a major blot bunny, this story will take a whole different turn-yes, that's right, KINGDOM HEARTS. But don't worry, you won't be seeing anymore Heartless for a while, besides this battle, at least. ^_^


	7. VII Heartless and Summons

As usual, I NEED REVIEWS! It's not that hard to leave one, it takes like what, a minute? I'll be watching you...

**FANART ON MY PROFILE**

* * *

After about five minutes of fighting, Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis, Zack, and I were still sweeping away more shadows.

There was something weird about these creatures. As you killed one, a...heart? Floated up into the sky, and disappeared. For Sephiroth and the other First Class SOLDIERs, it only took one sweep on their blade to make them poof into clouds of black dust, but for me and Zack, It usually took two or three hits to make them powder. The armored shadows took even more hits, and clawed more fiercely.

Sephiroth's sword, the long and deadly Masamune, was taking monsters out by the twenties. So did Angeal's Buster sword, and Genesis's blade reach wasn't that bad either. Zack and I did okay, but weren't taking out as much of them. And what was worse, more kept re-appearing as you killed some! When will it end?

"Hey Rin, how you doing?" Zack called over his shoulder, as he decapitated three shadows at once.

"I'm ok for now, but neither of us will be if these things keep coming back at this rate..."

Slashing across two at once, I winced as an armored shadow clawed me on the shoulder. Whipping around, and sliced its hands off, before stabbing it through the face to make it disintegrate. I watched the beautiful heart float upwards, and disappear, before resuming my offensive.

I was dimly aware of my left shoulder stinging, but that wasn't important right now. The problem is that I'm not getting enough enemies at once…So I need an attack that's long range! _Materia!_

Quickly reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a green Thunder materia. Dodging yet another attack from the shadows, I slid it in one of the two holes in my sword. Already I could feel the changes, so I held up my blade, and pointed it at a creature.

"Blot! ...Uh, I mean Bolt!" A crack of lighting went from my sword directly to the fiend, and it died instantly. Heh…hopefully, no one heard that over the din…Mentally hitting myself, I attacked more enemies with magic.

"Whoa, whoa, there kid. Spells can drain you pretty fast if you're not careful." Zack warned, bringing his weapon up to defend from an attack, and quickly knocked it away with a kick.

It was true. Already, I could feel myself tiring mentally, so I decided to stick with sword attacks for now. There were not many monsters left anyway, and under the combined teamwork of Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal, a great portion of them were dying simultaneously, creating a brilliant shower of glowing hearts in the sky.

As we cleared out the last of the remaining enemies, I noticed the inky black pools of darkness that the shadows spawned from were shrinking, along with the number of fiends. Finally, my silver-haired savior killed the last of them with a great sweep of his Masamune. Letting my sword arm drop, I sank to the ground, exhausted. Panting, I swore that who or whatever was causing these disturbances, was going to pay. Zack also fell to the ground, and was breathing heavily.

"Man, whata workout…" He looked over to me. "You're not hurt, are you Rin?"

I took a quick stock of injuries. I had a nice cut on my arm from when I failed to block correctly, the large one on my shoulder, and a few scratches here and there. Zack got up, and walked over to me, while searching for a Restore materia.

"It's okay, Zack. I can handle it by myself." I reached into my pocket where I kept my small collection of materia, and pulled put a light green one. I put it in the armlet I acquired on the airship, and muttered 'Cure' a few times. The small scratches and the cuts faded away, and I felt better. Zack helped me to my feet, and we walked over to the first class SOLDIERs, who were resting against nearby rocks. Well, Sephiroth wasn't, but you'd hardly expect him to be tired. The chocobos were all huddled up nearby, gradually calming down from the shock of the attack.

Angeal stood up at our approach, and motioned for Genesis to as well.

"We can't stop yet. We still need to find who, or what, summoned those creatures."

Genesis sighed deeply, and you could tell he was about to spit out a fancy reply that was probably stolen from _Loveless_. Sephiroth stepped past them before the red-clad SOLDIER could reply, his eyes slightly narrowed.

"Lets get going. I want to get this over with before the sun sets again…"

The platinum SOLDIER headed over to our black-feathered mounts, who had successfully collected themselves. The birds seemed confident again, but a bit more wary.

As the others followed, noticed something on the ground, near where the unnatural darkness had faded away. Red and round, it rested in between the tall stalks of grass that grew around here. It gave off the same glow as my green magic materia. I quickly scooped it up and placed in my pocket as Zack yelled at me to hurry up.

"C'mon puppy, we don't have all night!"

Forgetting all about the red materia, I went to follow the others. The sun was just starting to peek over the mountaintops, creating an orange glow across the horizon, and into the sky. I knew that sunrise in the mountains are later than in open areas, because mountains, obviously, are tall, and hide the sun for a while longer than in normal places.

The five of us were on a path worn into the earth by countless of other travelers, and started off south in silence. No one felt like talking after the strange encounter with the shadows, but I could see the others thinking very hard. With the sun rising on our right, it suddenly cleared the peaks of the mountains, casting light everywhere with temporary blindness from the sudden increase of sunlight.

Blinking away the spots in my eyes, I tried to think of something to say. Then I suddenly remembered the red materia I found, and fished it out of my pocket. I held it up as I was walking, so it sparkled in the early light.

"Hey, do you guys know what this is?"

Sephiroth seemed to snap out of his train of thought, and looked down at me. He gently took the sphere from my hand, and felt it.

"A summon. Odin." He tossed it back to me, and i fumbled for it. "A rare find. How did you get it?"

I looked up at Sephiroth, who was reaching for something in his coat. "I found it in the grass after those...Shadows disappeared. I only knew it was summon..."

"Odin. Astride his six-legged horse, He wields a sword of truth and justice. The horns atop his head strike fear into the hearts of-"

"Personally, I'm not in the mood to listen to another legend. Basically, when Odin comes down, he cuts anything in his path into little sticky pieces." Angeal walked past us, looking into the distance.

Sephiroth put his piece in. "Hojo has an Odin summon somewhere in the ShinRa Manor. He said he found it in the surrounding mountains. Perhaps we were near the fountain that produces them."

He handed me another red sphere. As I held it, it felt considerably stronger somehow, and just _different. _"_That _is a mastered Bahumat. Feel the difference? That is how you tell summons apart, besides using them."

I marveled at it, before giving it back to Sephiroth. Than i referred back to his earlier statement.

"Fountain? You mean where the real summon is crystallized in mako?"

"Sort of. Natural mako is different than that of which ShinRa uses. If a being with certain strength dies near natural mako, then a fountain will form, and you can collect materia from it. Of course, fountains can be destroyed, and only a few materia would be created."

"That's a way to put it…" Genesis replied, sarcastic.

"We're about a mile from the old reactor. We should call for a chopper, as I doubt that airship could land here." Angeal cut in, trying to get back on target.

"That would be a great plan, if we had any reception here."

Genesis took out his PHS, and held it up.

"See? No bars…"

"Then we should just continue on to Nibelheim. We can send the elder of Rocket Town a message bearing a mission complete." Angeal looked to Sephiroth for approval.

The silver haired SOLDIER was standing with his arms crossed, head bowed in thought.

He raised his head to look at everyone, including me, and the now silent Zack,

"That's fine. We should start now, I want to get through here as quickly as possible."

"Okay, but can we pleeeaaase not run? That was exhausting…" Zack couldn't help but blurt out. I grinned. A quiet Zack was no fun.

"All right, all right. By the way, what do you think happened to our feathered friends?" Genesis asked slyly.

I my grin vanished. They probably just ran back to the ranch, as most trained chocobos do.

"Who cares, let's just go!" Zack started forward, with the now risen sun hanging in orange clouds higher in the sky.

Finally, we were going to go back to civilization! I really wanted to get back to my nice big bed, and beloved books. I was also eager for some real training with Sephiroth, and to challenge Zack again. Also, I wanted to find out what exactly what those other-worldly creatures were. I pushed it to the back of my mind, and ran to catch up to Zack. I walked beside him, with the three First Class SOLDIERs following behind.

Genesis let out a loud sigh.

"I need to get back to Midgar so I can see _Loveless_ in theater again-"

He was cut off again with a blow to the head from Angeal. I suspected Genesis said such things only to annoy the others, and I could easily imagine him dragging Angeal And Sephiroth to the play.

"This is gonna be a long walk back..." Angeal sighed.

Again, this chapter was altered, and unfortunately, shortened, thanks to my ~new~ ideas. Hopefully you guys like it...


	8. VIII Halloween

Again, I'm soooooo sorry that this chapter took so long! When I finally found the inspiration to write it, it took forever to actually type. Sad, I know. Anyway, this chapter juts beaks over 6000 words, so BE HAPPY! Hopefully this makes up for the shortness of the others…

**FANART ON MY PROFILE**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but Rin.**

* * *

Normal P.O.V.

The walk to Nibelheim wasn't that long. In fact, on chocobos, crossing Mt Nibel only takes a day and a half. It was only a couple of hours past sunrise when the party of five reached the town. Nibelheim itself was quiet at the moment, but soon most of villagers would be up, as they begin work quite early. People here are mostly ranchers, who look over animals for slaughter, like sheep and cows.

As the five warriors reached the village, a watchman looked up from his nap. Upon the sight of Sephiroth, he jolted upright into a standing position, and raised a fist to his brow.

They passed into the village, and stopped near the small water tower. The town was decorated strangely, with small lanterns of orange and purple hanging from roofs, and strange orange vegetable/fruits with faces sitting near doors and windows. Fake cobwebs were also put up, along with plastic skeletons and skulls, bats, and spiders. ShinRa Manor looked creepy in the light of dawn, surrounded by a large metal fence. As suggested by the decorations, Nibelheim was celebrating the festival 'Halloween'.

The platinum SOLDIER informed the others that they would be staying here for a couple of days, in order to contact ShinRa. Little did everyone know that this would be Sephiroth's first test as Rin's guardian.

* * *

Rin's P.O.V.

The town was decorated so strangely. Perhaps there was some sort of holiday or something? I remember seeing some of the same stuff in Rocket Town, but I wasn't really paying attention then.

We reached the inn, and Sephiroth asked the nice lady who worked there how many beds where in a room. She said two, so he ordered three rooms. The five of us had decided that Genesis would have his own room, Zack and Angeal would share one, and Sephiroth and I would share one.

Zack went off to go right to bed, but Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis needed to stay up and discuss the mission, and contact ShinRa. I wanted to go explore the town a bit, so after I dumped my stuff in our room, I went to find the general.

The three of them were lounging in Genesis's room, talking lightly.

"Hey, kid." Angeal greeted me. "We just called ShinRa, they're sending a couple of Turks to pick us up. _Tomorrow._" He did not sound happy at the company's lack of haste to retrieve us.

I acknowledged him, and focused on Sephiroth. I put my arms behind my back, and looked at him with puppy eyes I learned from Zack. He said this worked on most parents…

"I'm not tired at all. Can I go explore the town a bit?" I considered waking Zack up, but I really wanted to go and do a little training by myself, as well as have a look around. This was the first village I had the chance to. I could tell he was taken aback by this, and at first scowled. But then his expression softened, and he looked down at the floor.

"…All right, but be back by dark. And don't go near the mansion, understood?" He said the last part with unusual sternness, but I nodded vigorously anyway, smiling.

"Thank you, sir!" And with that, I left at brisk walk, leaving the three men in slight confusion. Heck, I was confused myself. I guess Zack must be rubbing off on me. I've never really had a lot of human contact.

I quickly grabbed my katana from the room, and headed downstairs. It was brighter outside now, and the villagers would probably be up by now. The decorations were less impressive in the light, and looked kind of silly.

The main part of Nibelheim was shaped sorta like a circle, with alleys that lead to other parts of the town. I wandered around, hoping to find a nice, secluded spot to stretch properly and train. True to my word, I stayed away from the manor; it gave me a creepy feeling…

The spot I chose was near the northern exit, under some shady trees. Unclipping my sword, I plopped down onto the grass and set it aside. A long time ago, or so it seems to me, I learned that if one does not stretch properly, she will tear something. And those hurt. Well, most are more annoyances than injuries, but whatever…

Starting from the bottom, I stretched out my legs, leaning over them and pulling them in various ways. I then sank into a left split, and held it for a minute or so, before switching sides. I learned at the sparring session before the mission, that most SOLDIERs including Zack, Sephiroth, Angeal, and Genesis can do splits. I was told that it was difficult for males, but I guess that SOLDIERs have to be flexible to do what they do.

I stretched my legs for another minute until they felt a bit tingly, which meant they were done. I worked on my arms and wrists next, but these areas where not as important as the legs. I rolled my head and shoulders a bit too, just to feel evenly stretched out.

After doing a modest amount of push-ups, sit-ups in various positions, kicks, punches, and Zack's favorite, squats, I picked up my katana from its comfy resting place in the grass. If I recalled correctly, I needed to work more on spin attacks. In the fight with the fiends, they were surrounding us, and I could hardly turn fast enough to keep my head from being bitten off. Hopefully we won't get into another situation like that, but you never know.

I abruptly stopped in mid-spin attack, remembering the mysterious shadowy creatures that attacked us. Were they called…Heartless? Hopefully, the others knew what they were, because I honestly have never seen or heard of anything like those things before. They didn't even join the Lifestream! Then again, I am only a seven-year old girl, who has never been outside a lab before, so what would I know? I know I shouldn't dwell on it, so I forgot about it, and continued my exercise patterns.

After 10 minutes of training, I noticed three pairs of eyes watching me from the corner of a nearby house. I could tell they belonged to children, and as soon as looked over in their direction, they disappeared, and only giggling noises could be heard. Then they pushed one of their own out from the shelter of house, a girl with brown hair and wearing a simple green dress.

As she walked toward me, I sheathed my blade, and turned around to face her. She greeted me happily.

"Hi! Are you new? What's your name? Why do you have a sword? How old are you? My name's Amanda!"

She said all of this very fast, and was looking at me with hopeful eyes. I could see the two others looking again, and more giggling. Feeling overwhelmed by the number of questions, I started with my name.

"I'm Rin. Nice to meet you, Amanda."

Her smile got even bigger, if it was possible, and grabbed my hand. Honestly, are all normal girls like this? Amanda dragged me over to her friends, who said 'Hi' shyly. One, named Sara, also had brown hair, and was wearing black leggings and a blue shirt. The other, Lily, had black hair, and wore a yellow skirt and white shirt with a cute chocobos on it.

"Hi. It's nice to meet you…Um, we saw you practicing with your sword, and we thought it looked really cool…" Lily said shyly, glancing up at me with soft blue eyes.

I was honestly startled. Shouldn't they be afraid? But here were these girls, looking at me with such admiration. Trying to keep the conversation normal, I asked a question Amanda asked me when she first said hello.

"So, how old are all of you?" Although it mattered little to adults what your age was, with children it mattered a lot, as I'm sure most of you can remember when you were little.

"I'm six." Lily looked down again shyly

"Me and Sara are sisters, and we're eight. What about you?" Sara looked like she was still too shy to talk to me, as she suddenly became very interested with dirt below us.

I replied that I was seven, which seemed to shock the girls.

"Really? You look like you're nine!" Amanda laughed, looking me up and down.

I shrugged. People enhanced with mako grow faster than those who were not.

"You don't live around here, right?" Asked Sara, seeming to become more comfortable. Shaking my head, I looked to the east.

"I live in Midgar, with my…father. He's in SOLDIER."

The three of them 'oooh'ed, and looked excited. Lily spoke next.

"Wow, that's soo cool! Is that why you have a sword?"

"Uh huh."

"Amanda, we _have _to show Rin to the others! Can we now? Pleeaaase?" Lily said, and looked very hyper. She grabbed Amanda's hand, trying to show her impatience.

"All right! Let's go find Tifa!"

Normal P.O.V.

The four girls walked along the streets of Nibelheim, heading towards the mountains, as that's where Tifa and her friends would probably be. Along the way, Rin could not help asking about the festival decorations.

"Hey Amanda, what's up with all these weird decorations?" Rin asked, glancing around at all of the pumpkins and suchlike in front of people's houses.

All three girls stopped and stared at her, and then looked at each other.

"You mean you've never heard of Halloween?" Lily giggled, amused by poor Rin's lack of knowledge in holidays.

"Halloween is a holiday festival that lasts for the month of October. It's supposed to keep monsters and ghosts and zombies away for the whole year. Not that I think they actually exist!" Amanda stuck her tongue out at her sister, Sara, who just reddened. "You put up decorations of skeletons, spiders, and stuff like that, to scare them away. Then, on the 31st day, kids dress up as anything they want, usually monsters or people they admire. Then they go around to people's houses, and the adults give them candy!"

Rin, who had never heard of anything like this, just tried to remember everything Amanda was telling her. She explained about the tradition of carving faces into pumpkins, and putting candles inside. All of them told stories about pranks that older kids sometimes pull to scare the younger ones. Sara even told her about the plans for this year, which includes a tour of the apparently 'haunted' ShinRa mansion.

"So, how close is the 31st?"

"It's tonight!"

"You could have said that sooner!"

"It sorta slipped my mind…"

The purple-eyed girl just sighed.

* * *

Tifa's P.O.V.

After I finished my daily martial arts training with Zangan, I decided to take the boys out to kill some small fiends. Tonight was All-Hallows Eve, and I know some cuts and bruises will only add to the affect of Dagger's costume.

Just to be _completely _clear, I don't like either of the two boys. I consider Cody and Dagger comrades, and I know we will never be anything more. Dag (whose real name is Dave) is a tough guy, who talks big and can usually back it up. He carries a dagger with him at all times, hence his name, though he prefers to use his fists, like me. Cody is much quieter and preferred magic to actual fighting. He has this grand master scheme to master as many materia as possible, so he can sell them for money to get into college in Midgar (around 3 million gil for four years). These days, ShinRa doesn't let just anybody get _that_ grade of education. He already has one Fire and Thunder mastered, and is currently working on a Cure and All materia combo. And Planet knows, if you can master an All materia, you're usually set for life. Both boys know that I can kick their butts if I wanted to, and usually tried to stay on my good side.

We were finding the common needle-noised birds and giant bugs to easy so far, so we decided to try our luck on a Bomb. We were still close to the village, so the three of us weren't worried.

The trick to easily defeating the red, nasty-looking balls of fire is to single one out. They always appear in threes, but if you can separate one, killing it is much easier.

"Hey guys, look, there's a couple." I whispered, crouching behind one of the many rocks around here.

Dagger and Cody did the same, the mage reaching for a small green sphere. It was a Fire materia, and cast a small spell to right of us, to lure a Bomb our way. As it came over to investigate, Dag and I jumped out, and quickly started to pound on it before it exploded. This usually works, except the Bomb managed to catch the older boy with a Fire spell, making him howl in pain.

"Cody! Get him!" I shouted, but as said boy ran over, the worst happened. The Bomb exploded.

The blast sent all of us back at least five feet, into some rocks. But what was worse, it alerted the other two Bombs, and they looked angry. The bombs were already flaming at the mouth, which wasn't a good sign.

"Bolt!"

A crack of lightning zoomed past us, and hit one of the Bombs square in the eye, which caused it to immediately explode. That explosion in turn caused the other to explode. Luckily, they were still to far away for us to feel the blast.

I quickly stood up, and looked around to see where the lightning came from. I frowned at what I saw.

Amanda, Sara, and Lily were standing there, with a girl that looked around their age, _holding a sword _that pointed were the Bombs were_._ Kicking Cody and Dagger to get up, I walked over to go yell at the girls. How many times have I told them its way to dangerous to be up here?

"Hey! What are you guys doing here?" I said angrily to Amanda, but she just smiled at me.

"_She's _the reason! Tifa, meet Rin. Rin, this is Tifa!"

Okay, what is she up to now? I studied the newcomer, who had now put her sword back in its sheath on her hip. She looked to about nine, which made me wonder why she was carrying a sword. Black hair, which had a dark violet shine to it, was cut short and currently tied back. Striking purple eyes that seemed to glow stared at me, sizing me up. A sturdy black vest was worn over a purple sleeveless shirt, with fingerless gloves like mine protecting her hands. The Wutainese sword had a deep violet hilt, with a gold guard, and was attached to black pants made of durable material. Combat boots ended the ensemble, and were currently kicking a small rock around. Whoever her parents are, they must be loaded. And a warrior, too.

Rin held out her hand to me, which I took, unsure of her intentions.

"So you're Tifa? These three have told me great things about you." Her voice sounded normal, which clashed greatly with her appearance.

After Cody and Dagger joined us, we went back to town. Amanda was scolding us for fighting fiends again, when we weren't even supposed to leave the village unsupervised. I was studying the newcomer, who interacted with everyone confidently. She didn't have the 'I'm-way-better-than-you' attitude that came with most rich children, but rather treated everyone with respect, even Lily.

"Hey, how 'bout we stop by Zangan's, and see just how great of a 'warrior' you are, Rin!" Dag teased, as the three little girls were going on about her 'super-awesome skills', and that her father was apparently in SOLDIER, which made me stop. Cloud had left to join SOLDIER not even two months ago…I wonder how he's doing…

"Hey Teef, what do you say? You up for it?"

I snapped out of my thoughts, and remembered Dagger's question earlier. Rin had accepted.

"Sure, it sounds like fun!" I grinned, and ran ahead to catch up to the dark-haired kid.

"So, you think you can beat Tifa, little girl?" Dag said jokingly, and smiled down at her.

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I can beat _you_ into the ground" She said, elbowing him in the belly. Cody, who has been quiet for some time now, smiled.

"All right, that's it, you and me, first up, baby!" Dag yelled, and ran ahead to Zangan's house. It had a special room for training in, with the walls and floor padded, so falling wasn't as bad. Zangan, my master in martial arts, said we could use it anytime we wanted, as long as it was for training.

As we entered, we removed our shoes, and Rin her sword, and continued to the training room. I had been here earlier today, for my daily instruction from Zangan. I had begun martial arts training after Cloud left, and Zangan said I have a knack for it.

"Okay, it's me and Rin first, then...?" Dag asked.

"I want to face Rin too. If she beats you, that is." I challenged her.

I doubt she can beat Dag, he's fourteen, and she looks to be eight or nine, though I think I heard Sara say she was seven? Whatever, it doesn't really mater. Amanda, Sara, Lily, and Cody sat or leaned against a wall. Cody doesn't really like melee combat, and prefers not to get his butt kicked, even by a seven year old.

Dagger and Rin took their respective stances: Rin, a rather relaxed pose, with one hand out in front of her, and the other close to her face. Dag was crouched down, both fists low, and I knew he would try to spring at her. Her eyes are glued onto him, and didn't waver even as the girls cheered for her. Whoever trains her must be good, to install concentration like that in a kid so young.

Dag did spring at her, but she was prepared, and nimbly stepped aside, kicking at him in the process. He landed, and whipped his fist around to hit Rin's shoulder. Instead, she grabbed his wrist as it came at her, and yanked it, using inertia and her own force to continue the punch, and sent him to meet the floor.

The fight continued like this, with Rin using her quickness and strength, which was appalling for a seven year old, to out-maneuver Dagger. About five minutes later, Dag was sprawled on the ground, breathing heavily. Rin was slightly out of breath, but seemed fine. She nudged Dag with her bare foot, urging him to continue fighting.

"C'mon, I'm not that tough, am I?" She laughed, and Dagger just went to sit on the side, next to Cody.

"All right, my turn!"

I know how this girl fights now. Except, I don't think that will help me much. She fights in a way that turns your attacks back at you, and strikes at the openings that arise from it. She never directly attacks, and waits for you to make the first move. To beat her, I need to create a flurry of blows, fast enough so she can't catch any.

She and I took our stances, which were similar, and locked gazes. I started with a string of punches, followed by a couple of kicks. Dag and Cody cheered me on, while Amanda led Sara and the others to cheer for the purple-eyed girl. This pushed her into the defensive, but then she changed. Rin's eyes glinted, and she suddenly launched her own offensive, coming at me with blows of such strength that made my arms ache after blocking her only a few times. Nevertheless, I endured the girl's assault, and fought back with equal vigor.

In the end, it was Zangan who ended our sparring match as he returned from meditation in the mountains.

"Children! What are you doing here? Are you not participating in the festivities?" The old man said kindly.

Rin and I slowly relaxed, disappointed that the match had ended. When you fight Rin, it's not you're fighting a seven year old. She felt just as experienced as I was, and maybe even more.

Zangan came over to meet Rin, and the girls, of course, rushed over to tell him all about the purple-eyed girl. On a more important matter, it sounds like it's almost time to go candy-hunting. Yes, I'm thirteen, but who would turn down free candy?

"C'mon guys, it's already four-o-clock. We still have to find Rin a costume, remember?" If this didn't get their attention, I don't know what will…

Rin looked at me, confused. "You mean I can go with you guys?"

"Of course you can! And I know the perfect thing, too! C'mon!" The girls dragged the poor kid out, probably to Amanda and Sara's house. As for me, Cody, and Dag, we thanked Zangan for letting use his training room, and went to go prepare for tonight.

* * *

Rin's P.O.V.

Are these girls sugar-high or something? I was worn out from my fight with Tifa, and the last thing I wanted was to be dragged around all over the place, and finally to Sara and Amanda's house. Her parents weren't home, and she said they usually got home around 5pm.

Apparently, Sara, Amanda, and Lily all had a nice chunk of time to think about what to dress me as. I honestly hadn't given it a thought, but I was okay with a vampire. So far, they had spiked my hair a little, replaced my vest with a high-collared cloak, and gave me a red shirt with white frills near the neck to wear instead of my purple one. I'm enduring only by the knowledge that I'm going candy-hunting with other people, kids my age even! At least they let me keep my sword, as they said it made the costume look 'real'.

Sara put the removed clothing in a bag, which would later turn into the bag I put my candy in. Finally, she gave me a set of plastic teeth, with pointed fangs were the canines should be. When I wore them, they impaired my speech, and made me drool like a dog. Speaking of dogs, Sara and Amanda had one, the very first live dog I've ever seen. I didn't tell the girls this, because they'd probably only laugh at me, and ask more questions.

Then, the sister's parents came home. This affected me more than I thought it would. As I watched Sara and Amanda run over to go hug their mother and father, I felt…jealous. Hugs, kisses, words of affection… I never had those. Or, if I did when my parents were still alive, I can't remember.

I would rather drown myself in mako before I let it show, though. I've known my parents were gone for a long time! I don't even remember anything about them! Why should I start missing them now?

So I put on a smile, and greeting Mr. and Mrs. Loft. They told us to hurry and finish up, as the festival would be starting soon. In fact, it was just starting to get dark. As they went off to start handing candy out, my eyes widened. Dark! I need to go report to Sephiroth!

"Umm, girls? I need to go…um, tell my father that I'm going with you guys. I'll be right back, I promise!"

"Okay! Let me come with you!" Amanda got up to follow me. "I want to meet your dad! He sounds really cool!"

But I didn't give her the chance to follow me, as I sped out of there as fast as I could. I giggled at the thought of them trying to catch me. Wait, giggle? I shook my head, vowing to never become that type of person.

I stopped in front of the inn where the five of us were staying, and just noticed that I was still wearing the costume Amanda, Sara, and Lily put me in. Ugh, Zack better still be asleep…

As I climbed the stairs to go find someone, I abruptly crashed into something, or someone, and almost fell down the stairs! But a strong hand grabbed my elbow, holding me steady.

"My apologies, Rin. Are you alright?"

Of course, it was none other than Sephiroth. I said I was fine, and told him about my new friends. This seemed to make him happy, and he said I could go with them, as long as I was not to out alone. I had a feeling he was talking about the shadows, but did he honestly think they were going to appear again?

"Angeal and I have finished the...paperwork." Even he said 'paperwork' with distaste. All of the scientists did. I knew that ShinRa gave out excessive amounts of the stuff to _everyone_.

"I would sent Zack to go with you, but he's still out of it. We'll be here if you need us."

I nodded, and added innocently "So do you like my costume?"

He smiled, and patted my head. "Very much. Are you a vampire?"

"Yup!" And then for some reason, I hugged him. "Thanks..." He tensed for a moment, and then put an arm around my shoulders.

"All right, get going, you don't want to keep your friends waiting." Sephiroth whispered, and I nodded again.

Reluctantly, I let go of him, and ran out of the inn to find the girls. Hugging him felt nice, and I felt better about earlier. Maybe Sephiroth really could replace my parents, instead of me just pretending?

The candy-hunting went well. Amanda was a cactuar, Sara a princess, and Lily was a moogle. Tifa and her friends were all dressed up as monsters, with realistic blood and everything. Dagger even had a fake sword going through him. They were going around, trying to scare the littler kids, and Dag even tried to scare Lily, but she kicked him as he came near. And the best part, all of the children with their parents didn't bother me at all.

"Hey, you guys wanna go to the _haunted_ mansion now?" Cody asked, in a creepy voice.

"We can't anymore, monsters have been coming up from the basement again." Tifa reminded him. "Do you want to put them in danger?" She gestured towards the three girls, who were not paying attention to our conversation, but instead counting candy.

"Awww, fine…" He said, defeated.

I would have stopped them from going, anyway, because of Sephiroth's warning. Everyone departed for home, even the older children. They wished for nothing more than to count and stash their new hoard. I know this amount of candy will keep me well stocked for months to come. I just have to keep it away from Zack, or it'll be gone before you can say 'SOLDIER'. But if he's good, MAYBE I'll give him some.

I walked back to Sara and Amanda's house with them, after saying goodbye to Lily, so I could return the costume and get the stuff I left there. I liked the cape, because it swooshed around every time I moved. I dressed in my clothes, which had been washed for me by the girls' parents. They smelled…clean. As I bid the family farewell, Sara and Amanda hugged me so hard, I couldn't breathe. I returned the embrace, as I knew this would be the last time we'd see each other for a long time, if ever.

As I walked back to the inn where we were staying, I couldn't help but feel sad. Having to say goodbye the first normal friends you've ever had so soon after meeting them wasn't easy. But I know that Zack and Sephiroth and Angeal will always be my friends. Genesis, maybe not. I don't know why, but I just get these bad feeling from him. Zack's like a big brother to me, Sephiroth a father, and Angeal and Genesis uncles, maybe. See? I have a family! Maybe not a normal family, but it works.

When I returned my and Sephiroth's room, I found it empty. After hiding my candy in my bag, I tried Zack's and Angeal's room, and they were both there. Zack was awake now, and was playing a handheld video game. He looked up as I entered, but Angeal didn't bother, and kept reading his book.

"Rinny!" Zack exclaimed happily. "There you are! Seph said you were gonna be out till late! I was getting so bored, now we can play two-player mode-"

"Sure, Zack, but where's Sephiroth?" I interrupted, looking at Angeal.

"He and Genesis went to go examine the mansion. That house has a…long history. Most of it not good. A ShinRa lab once existed in it, and the scientists left some _things _behind." He said carefully.

I shuddered slightly at the thought of what could possibly be in there. No wonder Sephiroth told me to avoid it. The monsters Tifa was talking about were probably experiments similar to the ones I had to fight growing up…

"C'mon forget all that nasty stuff! Come play with m, Rin!" Zack urged, and threw a game system at me. A GSXAdvanced? How original.

"What game is it?"

"Its called Final Fantasy Tactics…"

I played the stupidly named game with him for about an hour. It was pretty easy to play, but like the name suggested, it took a lot of thinking of where to go next on the battlefield. Basically, each side has an assorted team of mages, knights, archers, monks, and whatnot, and the goal is to kill all of the opposing team's people. It was more complicated than that, but why don't you just go look it up if you want to know?

After beating Zack and evening the score to three-three, I said I'd had enough, and wanted to go to bed. He looked disappointed, but ruffled my hair playfully. Angeal said goodnight, and I went off to the room Sephiroth and I shared. Angeal said the two of them would be back in a couple hours, so I went right to bed, and fell asleep almost at once.

_I was standing in what looked like a Wutainese-style bedroom. It was dark outside, and thundering and lightning. Everywhere seemed to be in a fog, even though I was indoors. The room had a nice bed, and a crib. I went over, and looking in the crib to see a baby about two years old. She had dark hair, and…purple eyes? I whipped around as the door opened, and two people clad in dark suits entered. One was Wutainese, the male, accompanied by a beautiful woman with purple eyes like my own. _

_I tried to talk to them, but to my surprise, they walked right through me. The two of them, Turks, went to go stand by the child, who was now sitting up in the crib. _

"_Mama! Dada!" The child babbled happily, but the parents looked worried. _

"_Come here, Rin." Cooed the woman, and my eyes widened. _

_Is that…me? Sure, she LOOKS like me, but…_

_My mother picked the little me up, and she and my real father left. I followed at a run, not believing what I was seeing. The house was indeed Wutainese, and I recalled dimly that my parents died while on a mission in Wutai. The three of them moved quickly through the house, which seemed very large. _

_The man pulled out a cell phone, and quickly dialed something before putting it to his ear. _

"_Verdot? Rinoa and I are heading to the rendezvous point now. We-"_

"_Kota!"_

_Several soldiers, normal ones mind you, crashed through the nearby door, bearing guns. They spared no time in shooting down my _father,_ who dropped the phone._ _Mom quickly drew her own gun, and shot back at the group of Wutainese soldiers. She killed them all with shots to head, while still holding me, and scooped up the fallen cell phone. Running out of the house, she talked into the phone, while trying to calm herself and me from losing her husband. _

"_I'm fine Verdot, but they just got Kota. Yes, I have Rin; I'm about twenty minutes away from the rendezvous point. Wait," Her voice filled with dread at the end, as more soldiers seemed to appear from nowhere. _

"_Hey, back off!" I yelled, and slashed through the first couple of soldiers, only to have my blade pass right through them harmlessly. They didn't seem to be able to hear my voice either. I could only stand by and watch helplessly as my mother died. _

_She shot at them, and managed to kill a few before they fired, and she turned herself around and hugged the baby me, acting as a human shield. Soon, she too fell, leaving baby me in a state of confusion at the sight of red water. The commander of the soldiers came over, and crushed the phone under his boot. Leaving me in my mother's bloody embrace, he motioned for his men to move. They disappeared._

_ShinRa infantrymen appeared next, surrounding and securing the area. Figures in Turk suits also appeared out of the fog, rescuing me, but sealing my fate at the same time._

"**Rin"**

_The landscape changed. Everything faded out, replaced by empty, black space. Green tendrils of the Lifestream swirled around me, giving off a warm feeling. I saw people, faces, memories reflected in the emerald light. Of my family. _

_A figure formed. She looked like a human, but felt unearthly. Blue skin and glowing eyes were not human traits. The Lifestream surged away from her, leaving the space in a pale blue glow._

_She spoke to me in an eerie voice, and it raised goose bumps on my arms. _

"**Do you wish revenge of those who took your parents from you? Humans are filthy, greedy creatures. Join me, and you may exact your revenge upon the whole human race!"**

_I felt myself unable to speak. What was this crazy woman talking about? I've been standing her for not even a minute, but you can clearly feel the sheer evil that radiates from her. I slowly shook my head, my answer evident in my glowing purple eyes. _

"**You have a destiny far greater than that you can imagine, young one. If you refuse now, you may not reach that potential**_**."**__ She said in a threatening voice. _

_I suddenly found my voice again, and I spoke out with unfelt confident. "I refuse. Just who do you think you are, anyway?"_

_She seemed to sigh. With a sweep of her hand, those shadow-like creatures appeared, twitching and clawing. The Heartless._

"**Fine. I will just have to take this planet by force, then."**

_Suddenly, the creatures swarmed at me. Once again, I found myself unable to move. They smothered me in darkness, and I searched desperately for the light. _

_And I found it. Said light was in the form of the silver-haired general, and he radiated power. _

Gasping, I sat bolt upright in my bed, cold sweat covering me. Just a dream. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I jumped down, landing shakily. Sephiroth had not yet returned, for which I was glad. Slipping on my boots, I jumped out the window, landing on a tree branch. Liking the sudden idea that came to mind, I jumped along the other branches, over to other trees. Right now, I needed to find something anchored and heavy. That dream was just too real.

I stopped on a large tree branch of an old oak three, maybe twenty feet from the ground. I sat on the wood, feeling the rough bark dig into my body.

Okay, so I just witnessed my real parents' death. Great. And who the heck was that strange blue lady? Could she control those creatures?

Suddenly, it all just became too much. Out of nowhere, all of the stress of being an experiment, the mission, the dream- it all just flowed out. I could feel tears spilling from my eyes, and I just…let go. I felt myself falling, and everything turning to darkness.

* * *

Please let me know what you think! You know how reviews make me super happy! PM me with any suggestions or questions you may have, and I may divulge some of my future plans! Happy Friday, people! =D


	9. IX Academy

**- I LIVE! Surprising, isn't it? =P**

Hey guys, it been a while, hehehe! **'**^.^ I'm terribly, terribly sorry to those who thought i abandoned this story, but in truth i just lost my muses for a long while. I now have my chapters planned out, so there shouldn't be too much of a wait for new chapters now. This chapter is about 9 pages long, and I'll try to keep them long-ish. Btw,** FANART ON MY PROFLIE, incase you people didnt know by now ^_^**

* * *

Rin P.O.V.

The weeks after the Rocket Town-Nibelheim mission passed uneventfully. Sephiroth had confined in me his suspicion of why the president would send his three best SOLDIERs, plus a normal one. The mission hadn't been that difficult, and I was sure we could have accomplished success with only Sephiroth and me.

The days were spent according to Sephiroth's duties as general. I quickly learned that Sephiroth was supposed to be leading the troops in Wutai, but another high-ranking First took over because Sephiroth was needed here for some reason. Now he did missions just like everyone else stationed at HQ.

Sure, he had paperwork to do, but all SOLDIERs are required to hand in a written report of how their mission went. Sephiroth's paperwork was related to the progress of various squads, equipment status, and project suggestions that required his signature.

Another thing was training.

Morning training takes place every week day, from 6am to 10am. It is a project headed by the First's, to keep all SOLDIER members in top form. It is required that all members, regardless of rank, must attend. Of course, many choose to do additional training, but this is the bare minimum.

It usually takes place in the large gym on the 50th floor, but sometimes they go to the 49th floor to use the VR room. There, they can practice large-scaled missions, or just combat in an unusual setting. The sessions include materia training, ability training, and tag team sparring, because most SOLDIEEERs are used to playing solo.

The other SOLDIER members didn't really seem to know how to receive me. Of course, since I was always by Sephiroth's side, they could show nothing but complete and total respect towards me. Some thought I was his actual daughter, or maybe Angeal's. Most accepted that I was just another experiment, as they all were.

* * *

Normal P.O.V.

Rin stalked silently down the path, eyes and ears alert. Whipping around at a slight rustle, she caught sight of a bright pink coat for a half-second before it disappeared from sight. But it was a half-second too long for the pink coat, as Rin dived in that direction.

"Gotcha! I win!"

"Awwwww! No fair, you're too good at this game, Rin-chan…" The small Wutain girl pouted, brushing off her coat.

Rin grinned sheepishly. "Don't worry, Yuki-chan. You can have my cookie at lunch tomorrow, okay?"

Yuki giggled, hugging her friend. "You're the best! C'mon, let's go do something else."

They walked down the garden path that led back to the playground, with Yuki talking about the new doll her mother had gotten her.

"Don't you have any toys at home, Rin-chan?" Yuki asked, awed at the thought.

"Uhh, not really. My friend Zack got me a video game a while ago…It was fun, but I beat it really fast."

Ninja Ninja, a game Zack had gotten her along with the system, had stood only four hours against Rin's full attention. Oh well. It had been fun while it lasted.

Rin and Yuki played on the swings for a while, jumping off of them to see who could make it farther. Rin also demonstrated her physical prowess by accident, much to the awe of the other second graders. She quickly corrected herself on this, realizing that normal children do not jump fifteen feet off a swing.

But of course, if those mean boys came back to bother them again, she wouldn't hold back. In fact, that is how she even met Yuki in the first place.

**

* * *

**

~Flashback~

_ShinRa Elementary Academy was rather close to the main building, seeing as most of the attending children had parents who worked for ShinRa. Rin could even make morning training, but had to leave by 7 o'clock. It was close enough that it only took Rin ten minutes to walk, even though any distance alone in Midgar could be dangerous. She persuaded Sephiroth out of needing a companion, seeing as was perfectly capable of defending herself if anything happened. _

_She walked along, keeping an eye out for any threats. She did see one, but it wasn't directed toward her. A small Wutain girl, similar in age to Rin, was conversing with three boys that also looked to be around their age. The girl's face held an emotion of combined anger and the feeling of helplessness. The boys' faces held smirks and unheard snide remarks. She was uncertain why, but felt the need to help the poor girl. Those boys would be child's play compared to her. (Pun intendedJ) _

_Walking innocently up to them, Rin quickly deduced the situation, which happened to be very typical: The boys were holding a cute doll and a pink backpack, which obviously belongs to the little girl. The Wutain girl now looked like she was going to deck the lead boy, but Rin intervened casually. _

"_Hey. Having fun playing with the doll, boy? How about you share now, hmm?"_

_The girl looked strangely at Rin, noticing her strange eyes. So did the boys, but thought nothing of it. _

"_What, this stupid thing? Fine, have it!" The middle boy launched the doll at Rin, and then rushed up to her to hit her, probably. They never found out, as Rin caught the doll easily, and raised her leg effortlessly to catch the boy in the sternum, effectively knocking him over and removing all breath from his body. She didn't hear anything crack, so he was fine. _

_Rin walked calmly up to the one who was holding the girl's backpack, and the boy immediately handed it over, his eyes wide. Rin smirked as soon as her back was turned, and said to the girl as she passed, "Walk with me?"_

_She nodded, and received her belongings back happily._

"_Wow, thanks for helping me back there. My name's Yuki! What's yours?_

"_I'm Rin. Why were those boys bothering you?" Rin asked, curious as to why kids would just do things like that._

"_Oh, they're in my class. They're just mean." Yuki said, with sadness in her large eyes. "They pick on me, but I usually just hit 'em." But then her eyes got friendly again. "Do you know like, karate or something? You look like you could beat up even a fourth grader!"_

"_Don't worry Yuki; if they come back I'll kick their butts for you."_

_Yuki smiled brightly and hugged Rin tightly. "Will you be my friend?"_

_Rin was shocked, having had only a few friends before, and only for a short time. _

"_O-Of course!" Rin silently vowed not to let anything happen to her new friend. If anyone bothered her, she __**will **__kick their butts. _

"_Yay! Now I can call you Rin-chan, and you can call me Yuki-chan!"_

"_Okay, Yuki-chan…This is my first day of school, ever. Could you help me find my homeroom?" Rin asked, as they reached the school building. She was entering the second grade*, even though her level of intelligence was much higher. _

"_Sure! But how come you've never been to school?" Yuki looked slightly confused, but didn't seem bothered by it. To her, Rin seemed like a very intelligent person. _

"_Oh, I just never had the chance…Anyway, here's my paper-thing they sent me." Rin hastened to get off the subject. She didn't want anyone to know what she really was, or who her guardian was. It would attract unwanted attention. She and Sephiroth had agreed on this without even speaking, it was just mutually understood. _

_Yuki examined the paper for a few moments, before exclaiming, "Awesome! We're in the same class! C'mon, its room 207!" Yuki gleefully grabbed Rin's hand, and took off down the hall, dodging around kids and teachers expertly, not having to stop once. _

_The elementary school building was set up very simply, just straight hallways that had different colored themes for easy recognition. It had a nice library, a large clean cafeteria, and an auditorium with comfy seats. _

_Rin and Yuki were in a red hallway lined with red lockers, but the lockers didn't actually lock. All you had to do was pull up on the latch, and it'd open. They stopped at a door marked '207' in large, clear numbers. Yuki was telling Rin all about the class. _

_Mrs. Copani, the teacher of room 207, was a woman in her forties or fifties, and a little old fashioned. It seemed like she didn't quite know how to reign in the more unruly children, so she used a bribe no child can resist: candy. She placed all the students in groups of four, and let them come up with their own name and flag. Every day, the groups would compete with one another in games at the end of a math or global lessons. The group that answered a question correctly got candy. Very simple, yet effective, as the children had a reason to pay attention. _

_Most of the class welcomed her graciously, as new students were common. Yuki told her the schedule, which included the four main subjects (math, science, global, reading-writing), lunch, and recess. They had gym, art, or music once a day. _

_Rin quickly learned that school was not all it was cracked up to be. She found the lessons incredibly boring, gym class pointless for her, and sitting in the lunch room make her ears ring for the next half hour. _

_She almost regretted asking to go to school. Almost. _

* * *

Rin's P.O.V.

It was just a normal day for me, as I sat in math class, 'learning' stuff that I already knew. Knowing that I didn't need to pay attention to complete tests and quizzes, I opted to doodle on the side of my paper. So far I had gotten a chocobo, mog, ad cactuar done, and was working on a dragon. Yuki had commented earlier that my drawing skills, which I considered to be nothing special, were apparently really good for my age.

All of a sudden, the cell phone Sephiroth had given me vibrated in my pocket, alerting me that I got a message. I quickly made sure Mrs. Copani wasn't looking before I checked it, reading the message from Angeal.

I received a mission, and Sephiroth wants you to go with me. Apparently, an anti-ShinRa lab was 'discovered', and the company wants me and Zack to eliminate it. You will be excused from school.

I was getting weird and jealous glares from the other kids, probably because I actually had a phone. A moment later, the classroom phone rang. Mrs. Copani answered it, slightly annoyed her lesson was being interrupted. A few words were exchanged, before she said, "Rin, someone is here to pick you up. Do you know who it is?"

"Uhh, yea. He's my uncle." I lied quickly. That was another skill of mine. My 'father' was in SOLDIER, and had no mom, just like at least 5 other kids in my class. I came close to telling the other kids I was in SOLDIER too, 'cause most of them are all brats, but I knew Sephiroth would kill me.

I exited the classroom quickly, after sighing to Yuki I'd explain later. She was the only one who knew the whole truth.

A car wasn't waiting for me. Not even a truck or van. A helicopter. Didn't they know that everyone could see it, including my classmates?

I climbed in, ignoring the roaring winds the helicopter blades were making, and glared at Zack and Angeal, who were seated up front. A red-headed Turk was in the pilot seat.

"Real inconspicuous, guys. Nobody'll guess a thing."

"Listen to you, using sarcasm! Wow, school really does make you smarter, Rinny!" Zack teased, throwing me my sword. True, I had picked up some slang and jokes from school, but still, this was serious. Kids would talk.

I was about to retort, but the Turk decided to introduce himself.

"Hey, I'm Reno, yo. The best Turk of all time, ya know?"

"Watch out Reno, she's got a mean bite, just like Sephiroth."

I mumbled to myself at those words, looking around for something to throw at the laughing Zack in front of me.

Reno had taken us to a small valley near Cosmo Canyon. All the eye could see for a couple miles was red, orange, or sometimes brown rocks. But sure enough, there was a man-made building hidden among the crags.

Reno held back, to defend the chopper, whilst Zack and I took the flanks, and Angeal going in up front. There were no guards, which was surprising. I guessed they thought the terrain protected them enough. They thought wrong.

We were ordered not to kill the people inside, but just to capture them. The reason why they sent SOLSIERs instead of Turks is because that lab was supposed to be creating super-monsters for war. Turks might not have been able to handle it, and the company couldn't risk losing Turks.

Zack, Angeal, and I cast Sleep on all the scientists, before tying them up. Angeal and Zack dragged the five people out to the chopper, whilst I looked around the lab. I was similar in some ways to the labs I used to live in, but a lot smaller. There were tanks that contained mutated animals with extra limbs, eyes, or other parts.

The other part of the mission was to 'dispose' of any experiments, so we went about that next. For most them, it seemed like killing them was the kindest thing we could do, seeing the state they were in. A lot of them were already dead or dying.

"Man, this is almost as bad as Hojo's lab…Nah, I take that back, it isn't…"Zack joked, trying to lighten the mood. Angeal grinned tiredly at him, and I just sighed. Suddenly, Zack exclaimed,

"Hey look, puppies-Whoa…" Angeal and I came over to a container that was sitting on an observation table. Inside, were about ten puppies- but they were corpses. And each of them had three heads.

"Aw man, look at them…poor little guys…" Zack was immediately sobered at the sight.

"Cerberus's." I was upset, and I didn't know why. I've never seen even a normal puppy. But those creatures were so cute and innocent-looking; I couldn't help but feel sorry for them.

"Hey, do you hear that?" Angeal whispered, and Zack and I immediately strained our mako-enhanced ears. There was a faint, subtle whining. Very, very quiet, but still there.

"Maybe one's still alive!" Zack said, hope flooding his features. Angeal said nothing, so Zack and I started carefully removing the cerberus puppies from the container. And there, under the corpses of his brothers and sisters, was a live, mewling pup.

His eyes, all of them, were still tightly shut to the world. He had six eyes and ears, four feet, but only one tail. All the others had different numbers of body parts. This one seemed to be perfect; a success. Two small things were protruding from his shoulder blades, but they were folded down tight against his back. He had shaggy fur on all three of his necks, which sort of looked like a lion's mane. Dark sable fur covered him, and for now he had no spots. All in all, he looked absolutely adorable, even with three heads.

I scooped him, being careful. "We can't kill him. He can grow up and be on our side!" I said, my voice trying not to shake. I couldn't help it; I guess I felt some sort of maternal instinct to protect the little thing.

"Rin, you know we can't. If the company, or Hojo, found him, imagine what could happen to him." Angeal seemed adamant, but Zack knew how sway him.

"Aww c'mon, let the kid have a puppy! It's not like she's ever gonna have a real childhood, let alone a pet! Please, Angeal, I'll never let anyone find out! Pleeaase!" Zack made a strange puppy-dog face, and I was very grateful to Zack for trying to help me. The puppy itself was still mewling pathecticly in my arms.

Angeal sighed, and turned his head away. Zack was just like a puppy. "Fine; see what Sephiroth says when we get back."

Rin has decided to call the little cerberus Akuma, which meant 'demon' in Wutainese. Each head was named after its corresponding syllable. From left to right, they were Ah-Ku-Ma. Ah was rather laid back, and went along with whatever the other heads were doing. Ku felt like he was the leader, and often fought with Ma, who was rather mischievous.

Rin has had Akuma for about a month now, but he was still rather small, only coming up to her knees. He had nice, ivory teeth, and each neck had a soft, shaggy mane. The two tiny wings on his back were useless for flying, obviously, but looked really cute. They helped convey his feelings, like two extra tails.

Sephiroth had explained why he wanted Rin to go on that mission so suddenly. It turned out that Turks were going to the school to look for Turk candidates, because you have to start really young to become a Turk. Rin technically shouldn't even be going to school, and if she caught one's attention, they would be able to tell she wasn't normal. Eventually Hojo would find out, and Sephiroth would be in deep…trouble.

But the secret was safe for now, and Rin had come out of the experience with a new friend, abet a canine one. She told Yuki all about him, but she couldn't really picture a dog with three heads.

At first, Sephiroth had not been happy about the new addition to the family. When she first brought home, he had been tiny. But as he grew, he tested his and Rin's boundaries periodically. But once Sephiroth clearly defined who was alpha, Akuma was the image of canine innocence.

"Yea Rin, after you left, these two people came. They were in suits, but they didn't look like business people, cuz their ties matched their suits! Like, they were the same dark blue! My daddy's tie always has a pattern on it." Of course, trust it to Yuki to notice such minor details. But it told Rin that they were defiantly Turks. "They didn't do anything, just stood around."

Sighing, Rin noticed that indeed two of her classmates were missing. It seems Sephiroth was right.

During recess, Rin and Yuki hung out at the top of the fort, which Rin defended from intruders. It was just like a tactic lesson Sephiroth gave the cadets once.

Enemies can come from all sides, high and low, suddenly and expectedly. There was little difference from her classmates and the army cadets, who trained with the SOLDIERs.

Today it was too cold for kids to want to try anything, though. Winter was approaching, and despite the decrease in temperature, kids were looking forward to the snow and Yuletide celebrations, as well as the two weeks off from school for vacation.

One Saturday, Sephiroth took Zack and I to the VR room for personal training. Usually he only took me, but Angeal had asked him to make sure Zack didn't do anything stupid while he was out on a mission in Mideel.

The surroundings changed to a forest setting, with two large, red bull looking things staring at us, but not attacking.

"Take out the enemies with one blow," The silver-haired warrior instructed. "Now, try it." He gestured toward two rather large fiends, with mean-looking horns. "One blow, you hear me?" I nodded happily, and he stepped away, leaving us to face our monsters.

"What! No demonstration?" Zack said, as Sephiroth walked away. "Fine, fine! I'll do it!" He suddenly looked confident, and we both drew our swords.

Zack charged toward his, stopping short and winding up his blade behind his back for a blow. I did much the same, and brought my katana down on the creature's neck. I don't think Zack aimed before he released his shot, but it did the job anyway, and his drooped dead beside mine.

"There it is! One blow!" The spiky-haired SOLDIER looked extremely pleased with himself, but I could tell what was coming next.

"Your opponent was too weak. Try another." Zack obviously couldn't tell, but Sephiroth was fighting off a small smirk. Well, it was obvious to me. Sephiroth and I have grown a lot closer, but I still hesitated in calling him Father. I'm not sure how he would react.

Sephiroth programmed in a green dragon, much to Zack's dismay. I'm sure we could take one on, but not with one hit.

"You both may give one hit." Sephiroth said

"Just find its weak point. Every creature has one." I stated to Zack.

"Like…a gap in the scales!"

"Okay…Let's go with that."

Zack and I circled around the dragon, and I giggled a bit at how Zack was scanning over its back, looking for a break. Didn't he know that dragons' underbellies are unarmoured?

"Zack, just flip it over!"

"How?"

"..."

Frustrated, I thought over the possibilities. The dragon was rather large, and looked heavy. Even if we tried to trip it, it could easily regain its balance with its wings. But if we used Zack's higher strength…

"Zack! I got it!" I figured out why Sephiroth gave us each a shot, even thought it would only take one hit on its belly to kill it. I rushed over to him, eyeing the still dragon.

"Use your hit to knock it up in the air, and while it's stunned, I'll jump up and-"

"Gut 'em like a fish?" Zack finished eagerly, an excited look on his face. "Sounds like a plan!"

We moved out, and Zack prepared a move to send the dragon sky-high. He hit it right between its forelegs, effectively sending him into the air. I jump from the ground, already charging for my blow. It connected at the top of the creature's underside, and I dragged my blade down until it met scales.

I drew away, a terrible roar tearing from its throat. Flames missed me by inches while I landed, dematerialized into pixels when I hit the ground.

"Alright! Excellent, Rin!" Zack held up his hand for a high-five, which I learned from school. I hit his hand as hard as I could, making him smile.

"Very good, you two. I had hoped you'd realize teamwork was the way to go." Sephiroth said, as he walked over, terminating the session. "Angeal will be pleased."

He handed both of us a yellow materia, called _Vital Slash_.

That night, I sat on my windowsill, holding Akuma, watching snow fall in fascination. There was only two weeks left until winter vacation, and Sephiroth would be taking me and squad of SOLDIERs for a training mission at Fort Condor. Apparently, the forces there specialized in large scale assaults. That sort of training would be very beneficial to the SOLDIERs fighting in Wutai, as they often had to deal with castle raids.

The little cerberus was playing tug-of-war with himself, all three heads pulling at their play-rope. He hadn't grown much, and I was beginning to think he might stay that small, which would be nice. Sephiroth and I were worried he might grow to be huge, but it looks like those scientists messed up one too many times.

The snow crystals were wonderful to look at. With my enhanced sight, I could easily make out each flake's individual design. In school, we had learned of Gaia's goddess, Minerva, who created the Lifestream. I wondered how she took such time to craft each flake differently, and how she could come up with so many patterns.

Maybe, just maybe, Genesis would let me read _Loveless_ one day. The Goddess sounds like an interesting person.

Whew, **FINALLY** done! Again, I apologize. Once I _do get _my inspiration, it takes me forever to type. Plz, plz review, and yell at me for taking so long! Cookies for all who review! AGAIN**, FANART ON MY PROFILE **


	10. X Loveless

Hey peeps! As you probably expected, this chappy is late! Way late...

As always, please enjoy! Reviews make me happy-no reviews discourage me from writing more. Seriously, is asking for a minute of your time too much to ask? I know you're rolling your eyes right now, but seriously.

I still love you all! A big thank you goes to my sister and reviewers for helping me get over writing blocks and for correcting some stuff.

**FANART ON MY PROFILE. IF YOU HAVENT LOOKED AT IT BY NOW, PLEASE DO SO NOW. I MEAN IT. **

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Only Rin and any other OCs I pull out of my ass. **

* * *

Rin woke up in the morning around 5:30am, after getting a solid eight hours of sleep. Her body didn't really need that much, but she didn't have anything else to do by ten o' clock at night. She left her bed messy, as Akuma liked to sleep in until the sun came up, and she didn't want to smother him.

She threw her pajamas into the hamper next to her wardrobe, and put on her training clothes. They were like a mini-SOLDIER uniform, except she wore silver metal shoulder guards instead of leather ones.

She had to hunt a little for her left boot, as Akuma had hidden it under her bed sometime ago. Rin's ShinRa Alpha armlet was on her dresser, and her sword hung from its hook on the wall. She carefully opened her case of materia, and took out a _Fire, Barrier, Restore, _and her new _Vital Slash. _She inserted the _Barrier _and_ Restore _into her armlet, and_ Fire _and _Vital Slash _into her sword_. _She had finally mastered her _Fire _and _Restore _a couple days ago, as Sephiroth had said those were the some of the most important to have at a high level.

Finally, she brushed her teeth and hair, and checked to make sure she had everything. She would back after training to change into her school clothes, and take a shower.

Rin made her way into the kitchen, and helped herself to some Capt'n Cactuar's, which was a tasty cereal shaped like little green cactus men. After eating, she filled Akuma's bowl with food, and refilled his water dish. Oddly enough, he ate the same amount of food as a normal dog, because he only had one stomach, she guessed. It's not like she could take him to a _vet._

As always, Sephiroth had already left for the training floor. He usually left before Rin even woke up, so he had time to do serious First Class sparring with Genesis and Angeal. Rin didn't mind, although it would be cool to watch three of the greatest SOLDIERs battle each other.

Rin left the apartment by 5:55, which left plenty of time to get to the 50th floor. She took the elevator, simply because she liked heights. She didn't have to worry about the elevator being busy; everyone except for Turks, SOLDIERs, and infantry men was either still at home or asleep.

Rin said hello to the still half-asleep Reno, who was holding about five cups of coffee. It looked like he was fighting quite a battle to stay awake, and didn't even notice Rin as she selected the 50th floor. He jumped slightly at the 'ping' when the doors opened, yawned, and mumbled a response to Rin's farewell.

Training went as usual – Rin hung around Zack whilst the Firsts went around drilling everybody. It was always fun t watch them deal with a trouble-maker, which involves an un-armed one-on-one 'sparring' session with a First. The howls of pain attract the whole gym's attention, adding further to the humility. Sadly, Rin had to make her way back up to the apartment only after an hour of training. She made her way upstairs after signaling to Sephiroth, who nodded in return.

She showered, and put on her normal school cloths, which consisted of a hooded shirt, loose-fitting pants with stylish buckles on the front, and a large pocket on the left side. She wore her practice boots, and wore nothing on her wrists except for the friendship bracelet Yuki had given her. She also put on a down coat, to ward away the discomfort of incoming winter weather.

Akuma was up by now, waiting patiently for her to leave. He only had a three hour timeframe to cause mischief before Sephiroth came back, so he was actually quite happy when Rin left for school. There were boots, gloves, and once in a great while (if Sephiroth was unusually careless) coats to be chewed. He never tore the leather, but liked to lick it, and lightly put his teeth on it. He knew if Sephiroth found any marks, he'd be made into a nice pair of mittens.

Rin met up with Yuki about five minutes away from the academy. The little Wutain girl wore her bright pink coat and a knit hat with cat ears sewn onto it. Yuki talked about the party their class would be having on Yuletide instead of lessons, and how it was unfair that Rin wouldn't be there.

In all truth, Rin would have liked to go. But the SOLDIER fathers would easily recognize her as Sephiroth's apprentice from training every day. Instead she and Sephiroth would be going to Fort Condor, and there they could focus more on Rin's personal training.

Snapping back into reality, Rin stopped as boy stood in front of her and Yuki. It was one of the boys from the group that had tormented Yuki ages ago, but he looked anything but threatening now. In fact, he looked quite nervous, probably because Rin was staring at him with hard, purple eyes. The boy suddenly lost his nerve to do whatever he was about to do, and shuffled away.

He approached them again during recess, looking a bit more confident. He glanced at Yuki, before speaking to Rin.

"U-uh, I, um—"

Rin was about to tell him to go away if he was just going to bother them, but Yuki interrupted.

"How come the others aren't with you? Are you guys not friends anymore?" She asked.

The boy lowered his head, and nodded.

"They said it was cuz I couldn't beat anyone in wrestling. They all wanna be SOLDIERs when they're older, but I just wanna go into the Science Division." He stopped, sniffling. "They said they don't like nerds. Now they've been beating me up, and I can't stop them!"

Rin and Yuki exchanged surprised glances. Who would've thought?

"Pl-please, I want you to tr-train me. So I can beat them! Or at least defend myself…" The boy finished, now looking absolutely pathetic.

But now, as small children do, Rin wanted to do everything in her power to help him. Angeal said in order to become honorable, you must always help those weaker than you, and that's exactly what the little girl intended to do.

'_Although, I might have my work cut out for me, seeing the state this kid is in…' _Rin thought to herself.

Sure, he needed a lot of work, but she would do it. Rin was shaken from her thoughts as she herd Yuki's next comment.

"That sounds like fun! Hey Rin, maybe you should teach me too!"

"Hmmm…that sounds like an excellent idea, Yuki-chan!" The purple-eyed girl was grinning rather devilishly, already coming up with ideas for what to do with her two new students.

* * *

"C'mon, you guys can do better than that! Build up your stamina!" I shouted at the heavily clothed kids, who were currently battling on top of our snow hill. It was the biggest one in the playground, about ten feet high, but also the most sought-after by my classmates.

It was still winter, and the snow wasn't going to go away for at least another month. The grown-ups weren't very happy, but us kids loved the snow. Over Yuletide break, I had asked Sephiroth the best way to train my friends in martial arts during recess, and he said just to have them spar in their heavy snow gear. I had decided to place them at the top of our hill, to improve their balance.

The two were grappling at each other, one in pink and the other in dark blue. The basic objective was to throw your opponent off the hill, and try to stay on the top for as long as possible. Both Yuki and Clause were doing quite well, and were panting heavily by the time recess was over.

My own training with Sephiroth had gone quite well. Fort Condor had a simulation which involved directed troops to defend the fort. I got really good at it by the end of our stay, and didn't lose a single squad.

Sephiroth had also taught me more combat techniques for one-on-one battles, two-on-one, and so on. We even practiced fighting against a whole squad of infantrymen, using primarily magic. Sephiroth had said that we may be called back to Wutai any time now, so learning things like that was very important.

Indeed, as spring settled into the land, the call went out for all First Class SOLDIERs who weren't training younger SOLDIERs to come back to Wutai. That meant Sephiroth and Genesis, along with five other Firsts. I, of course, would be accompanying the General. We were to direct the troops already stationed in the rampant country, and help to end the war as soon as possible.

Rumor was that ShinRa had only called back the Firsts because the Wutains were apparently working on _anti-SOLDIER_ monsters. Angeal guessed that Akuma was made to be an anti-SOLDIER monster, but was only a 'prototype'. Akuma was still very small, and I was worried that he was going to stay that small. Sure, it made it easier to hide him, but he would be an easy target for fiends.

The night of departure was chaotic. People were running around making last-minute preparations, getting in the way of everyone else. The SOLDIERs who were leaving kept close to the General, attracting a lot of attention from the civilians. I myself was at Sephiroth's right hand, with Genesis at his left. Genesis had been acting sullen for the last couple of weeks, and spent more and more time away from Sephiroth and Angeal. They wouldn't discuss it with me or Zack, but retreated to the First's lounge to talk in privacy.

Now, however, as we headed toward the airship, they were acting more like the old friends that they were. Angeal and Zack said their goodbyes, and I even got a hug from the Second-class.

I didn't understand why everyone was making such a big deal out of just going to Wutai. We were going to end the war—hopefully.

* * *

Akuma's Pov

My mama let me out on the ride in the not-bird. I stayed to the shadows though, as bipeds were still milling about as if they were still on ground.

I couldn't smell any other animals except for some of the large birds humans like to ride on. Chocobo's, Mama had called them. There was no other natural scent except for human and some sort of food.

Mama went off with alpha called Sephiroth, telling me to stay in the temporary den and not cause mischief. I can understand basic human language, but cannot recreate the noises they use.

Mama did not return until I felt the not-bird touch back down to the ground. It threw me off Mama's bed, and onto the hard not-stone floor. Mama came in a few moments later, and picked me up. I reluctantly went back into her back-pouch, as I had to curl up into a ball that made me cramp up after a while.

The humans made a camp near moonrise, not even bothering to be discreet. Everyone answered to Alpha, who kept Mama close to his side. I was free to explore and catch some fresh-kill, which I didn't get to do very often at home. The mouse I caught tasted much better than the food Mama gave me every day. After that, I decided to mark the camp parameter, as humans don't seem to do that sort of thing.

The chocobo's looked at me as if I was any other canine that herded them. Again, I was careful to stay out of the biped's way. Mama had carefully explained to me how and why humans would react to the sight of me. It didn't bother me, and I knew it pleased Mama that I stayed secret. Bored, I headed deeper into the forest.

That all changed when I felt a sharp pull on my tail, and was lifted into the air. One particularly stupid human had dared to pick me up in the unceremonious way, and he would pay. I shouldn't have let my temper get the better of me, but it did. I spit a fireball in his face. He dropped me, so I spit another fireball at him while clamping down on one leg with two heads. The biped was very angry now—I could smell it. He drew a fang from his back, swung it at me. I easily jumped aside, but he swung again and barely missed me. It would take him a full ten seconds to swing again, so I jumped up on his now-burned chest, and dug my claws in. He fell to the ground, and dropped his fang. I bit down on his neck with my center head before he could scream, and felt warm blood blossom forth. I quickly retreated. Human blood tasted _disgusting._ The deed was done though, and I dragged the now-dead biped deeper into the forest, hoping some fiend would come along and finish the job.

I caught another rodent on my way back to the camp, to get the horrible human taste out of my middle head's mouth. All I wanted to do now was take a nice, long nap.

When I reached Mama's den area, I saw she was practicing with her giant fang. I smugly trotted up to the den, still licking my face clean of mouse.

"What's up with you, pup? Did you make a kill?" She picked me up. "What a great little hunter you are. No one saw you, right?"

I licked her face in reply. I loved licking her—human skin was wonderfully smooth and hairless, unlike my fur. Coughing up furballs is not very enjoyable.

"Alright, alright! Three against one isn't fair!" She said, while setting me down. She nudged me with her foot. "You just go take your nap. We're leaving in a couple hours."

I happily did as I was told, and curled up in the make-shift den. Darkness took me almost immediately, and I dreamt of more rodent hunting. I would defiantly don't be doing any more _human _hunting.

* * *

Rin's P.O.V.

As soon as darkness fell, we picked up and set out for the main ShinRa camp. We were attacked only once, by a small group of Wutain soldiers back by monsters. Sephiroth took care of most of them, but left a few for the rest of us to deal with. He said it was because if he just did everything, the others would become rusty and be less effective in battle. I suspected he was just being lazy.

The ShinRa camp was huge, almost like a small city of tents. While the others went off to claim the unused tents, Sephiroth and I were led to a very large tent that could fit probably twenty people. The guide said it was the meeting tent, and that the army commander had requested them.

Inside, there were three other men. Two were just lower ranking army commanders, probably in charge of a division. The third was the commander of all the ground forces, excluding SOLDIERs. That meant Sephiroth still ranked higher than him.

"Ah, General Sephiroth. What an honor to meet you again. Shame it isn't under more happy circumstances." Commander Richmond shook hands with Sephiroth, while the other two men left.

Sephiroth stepped back and placed a hand on my armor-covered shoulder. "This is my apprentice, Rin Hallows. She will be accompanying me on all missions."

Richmond kneeled down to my level, and held out his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Hallows. Eager to get out there and show Wutai whose boss?"

I replied politely, but inside I frowned. Personally, I did not think that a simple failed negotiation was a very just cause to go to war. ShinRa had wanted to build a mako reactor in Wutai. The leader of Wutai had refused to let ShinRa ruin Wutai's beautiful land. ShinRa should have left it at that. Instead, they sent in warriors equipped with the most advanced technology. Not just weapons, but assault robots and genetically enhanced SOLDIERs—us.

Commander Richmond led us over to a rough wooden table, and motioned for us to sit. He pulled out a map of the area, marked with dots to indicate the positions of troops. I tuned out the discussion, and instead let my mind wander. I hoped Akuma wouldn't come looking for me. I hoped Zack was doing alright in his training with Angeal. I hoped that Yuki and Clause wouldn't miss me too much, before realizing I didn't even tell them why I was leaving in the first place.

Later, in our own tent, Sephiroth told me the plan for tomorrow night's assault. He would lead the majority of the regular army to attack several forts along the countryside, while Genesis would take most of the Seconds and Thirds to attack some of the more heavily guarded forts.

As he told me this, a question began to form in my head. "Sephiroth, you could probably defeat Wutai all by yourself. But what would happen if you refused to fight? Why do we fight for ShinRa?"

The silver-haired warrior set his Masumune down near his cot. I could tell he was thinking, as he continued to place things around our spacious tent.

"That is something I do not like to think about very often, Rin. If I did, I would end up leaving ShinRa." He paused again. "Genesis asks those very same questions, quite often actually. It's true—we could probably destroy ShinRa if we wanted to. But I have no ambitions to rule the world. I'm afraid that if I leave, Hojo will be inclined to make a being even more powerful than I. A being that is less human, and more a weapon." Sephiroth was frowning deeply by now. I was stroking a sleeping Akuma, hanging on to his every word. I had only expected a short sentence, maybe even scolding. But here he was, giving me personal information he did not have to share, but did anyway.

"Genesis doesn't always understand that some actions have consequences. We can only hope that the _President _may _retire _and let someone lead who is more concerned about the planet and less concerned about his wallet."

I looked at Sephiroth, who was removing his pauldrons. "I think I understand now. Even though I think this war is pointless, I will stay loyal to ShinRa for as long as you do."

He showed a rare smile. "I know you will." He finished removing his coat before picking me up under my arms. "It's bed time now. Your first real battle is tomorrow." He set me down on my cot, and then did something surprising. He kissed my forehead. "Don't worry about getting up in the middle of the night to fight. The others can handle whatever comes our way."

I nodded, and crawled into my bed with Akuma. I mumbled 'goodnight', and fell asleep almost at once.

* * *

The next day, at nightfall, the two parties went their separate ways. I was going with Genesis's smaller elite group, instead of with Sephiroth and the army. We would be targeting two heavily guarded forts, while Sephiroth would be taking on at least five less protected ones.

It wasn't that I didn't feel safe with Genesis—I could take care of myself—it was more that I could tell he didn't really care for my well-being, like Sephiroth did. I was in the middle of a bunch of Seconds and Thirds, while the red-clad First led from the front.

We weren't attacked on the way to the starting point, which was nice. Genesis gave us our orders and sent us on our way—meet back here when the forts were destroyed. Anyone not present would be presumed dead, etcetera. We split up into groups of three (there were about thirty of us) and took different parts of the fort for multi-pronged attack.

I was with two Seconds called Red and Daten. I recognized them from morning training. They didn't say anything about being partnered with me—they were probably afraid Sephiroth would come after their hides. No matter—I would soon show them I was a capable warrior.

We had been assigned the western wall as an entrance point. All groups had to try to make it to the keep and send the signal for the bomb to go off. Everyone was encouraged to try to make it to the keep, as it would be heavily guarded. The last thing we needed was to lose more people—especially SOLDIERs.

Daten blasted a hole in the wall with a Mastered Fire spell. Almost as soon as we entered the fort, Wutain troops engaged us in combat. They were accompanied by rather nasty canine-like fiends that shot fireballs. Between the three of us, we easily made a path toward the keep, but the sheer numbers of the Wutains slowed our progress. Fiends seemed to make up half of the forces—smart, really, seeing as humans aren't expendable like fiends.

Everything was going well so far—only sparse, minor injuries easily healed by a quick Cure spell from Red. That was, until we meet the Anti-SOLDIER monster.

We had just entered a large courtyard surrounded by high stone walls. This beast was twice as tall as Sephiroth, and maybe five times as wide. It was a dark blue in color, and held a large spike-studded club in each hand. To make matters worse, it was wearing armor on its arms, head, and chest.

"A-a Vajradhara…" Daten gasped, as Red pushed him out of the way of one of its clubs.

"Translation?" Red said through gritted teeth. He and I jumped over a club, only to be smacked by the second one. Daten was standing near the back, and attempted to use some offensive spells.

"An Anti-SOLDIER monster!" Daten yelled, and dived out of the way as a club came soaring in his direction. Despite its massive size, the creature easily jumped to the spot where its weapon was stuck—about twenty feet away.

We used this chance to attack its back. I went for the straps holding the thing's armor on, seeing as my katana would probably break trying to pierce the monster's hide. I managed to get the back armor off, and Red closed in with a long slash from his standard-issue SOLDIER sword.

The Vajradhara howled in pain and wrenched it club free of the stone wall. I managed to duck, but Red wasn't so lucky. He was sent flying across the courtyard we were in, and smacked loudly against the opposite stone wall. He fell to the ground, where he lay unmoving.

Horrified, I tried to make my way over to him, intending to use my Mastered Cure. Then I heard a roar from behind me, and I saw Daten soaring overhead. He didn't hit the wall, but when he rolled to a stop, I saw that his neck and legs were bent in ways they weren't supposed to.

Now I was facing the monster alone. It stared at me with its beady black eyes, daring me to make a move. Slowly, I reached into my materia pocket. I pulled out a bright red sphere and notched it into my sword. I had decided this was a perfect time to test my Summon—Odin.

I made my move when it leaped at me. I rolled out of the way and pointed my sword at the beast.

"Odin, come forth! Destroy the Vajradhara!" I said, and a stream of strange symbols started to form around my blade. A burst of red light, and Odin stood before me.

Genesis had described him to me when I first found the summon, but I still wasn't prepared for the sight. He was mounted on a six-legged animal, which I guessed to be a 'horse'. Both the horse and rider were clad in armor, but I noticed that the rider was not armed.

Suddenly, the horse reared, thrashing its front four legs in the air. A burst of flame emitted from one of the rider's wrists, and he grabbed it. He pulled out a blade that was aflame for but a moment, before solidifying into a very deadly looking sword.

The Vajradhara was just standing there, not sure if it should attack this being. It could probably feel the raw power flowing from the Summon, as I could, and hesitated. Odin gave it no time to think, however. The horse reared again, and took off toward the anti-SOLDIER monster. It was faster than any racing chocobo, and reached the fiend before it could even lift a club. Odin seemed to go right through the monster, after only one slash from his impressive blade. A moment later, the Vajradhara slide apart, cut into two halves down the middle. Odin reared again, before returning to the Summon Plane.

Stunned, I just stood there, as the monster's body erupted into pyreflys to return to the Lifestream. That made me remember my own comrades. I snapped out of my revere and rushed over to Red, whose body still looked intact.

"Hey—wake up! We need to report to Genesis—" He stirred a little, and opened his eyes.

"D-did you get, it?" He gasped, and hissed as I accidentally jostled his arm.

"Yea, I really should've summoned Odin as soon as it showed up…"I muttered, mostly to myself. My screw up costed me both my teammates. "Look, I'm really sorry I didn't think of that sooner. Now, Daten is probably dead…"

I used a mastered 'Cure' on Red about three times, enabling him to stand. He had to use his sword as a cane, though. I slowly made my way over to Daten, who hadn't moved. As I got closer, I could see bones sticking out of various places. I swallowed hard—his blood had pooled under him, and turned his navy uniform almost black. Guilt welled up inside of me. It was my fault—I should have summoned Odin sooner. Now Red was injured, and his only protection was a seven-year-old girl.

Red came over, and stood next to me. Despite his injuries, he managed to sort of kneel next to Daten's corpse. He muttered some words, before passing his hand over his comrade's eyes, closing them for good. As I helped him stand back up, Daten's body started to return to the Lifestream. His pyreflies swirled around us, and a sudden joyful feeling filled me. It only lasted a moment, and when it was gone, cold sadness took its place.

Red put a hand on my shoulder. "C'mon, let's get back to the meeting point. The signal should go out any minute." He said in a hushed tone.

I didn't know what this feeling was. I didn't feel this when I killed—they were all trying to kill _me. _Did the comrades of those I had killed feel this way?

* * *

Sephiroth P.O.V.

The assaults on all five forts were carried out flawlessly by Sephiroth's squadron. They didn't even need any explosives, which made things easier for the troops. Only one anti-SOLDIER monster attacked them, but Sephiroth took care of that easily.

They made camp in one of the forts they captured, as it had started to rain. Sephiroth was sitting on a dry patch of grass under a tree when his phone rang.

"Hello?" He answered, a slight edge in his voice.

"General Sephiroth sir!" The voice of a commander from the main camp sounded slightly panicked. "I'm terriblely sorry to bother you with this, but it is rather important…"

"If it's important, then say it." Sephiroth said, getting annoyed.

"U-uh, right, sir. Well, it looks like Commander Rhapsodos has, uh, well—deserted."

Sephiroth was speechless for a moment. The commander continued. "And he seems to have taken his entire squadron with him. No one has returned, and we got a message from Rhapsodos saying he and his followers are leaving ShinRa behind."

"_Everyone_ on his squad?" The General asked, thinking of Rin.

_'Surely she wouldn't go with him freely…Not after the conversation we had the night before…' _Sephiroth thought. _'Of course she wouldn't—she wouldn't leave Akuma…'_

"Yes sir. We'll contact you if anyone shows up. We don't even know if he lost any men. They only took down one of the forts they were supposed to; Fort Tamblin still stands."

"The fort can wait until we receive more SOLDIER operatives. We have destroyed all five bases over here, so we will return to camp in the morning. Send out a search party for the missing operatives in the mean time." Sephiroth ordered, standing up.

"Yes sir. We will be sure to contact you with any results."

"Dismissed." He said, and hung up.

A private came over to the General. "Sir, your tent is ready. Our departure time is set for dawn on the morrow." He said with a salute.

Sephiroth just nodded, and dismissed him.

He could wait to contact Director Lazard until they dispatched a search party. They needed more details before this could become official.

* * *

Akuma's P.O.V. 

Both Mama and Sephiroth were gone from the camp, leaving me all alone in their den. I hunted when I was hungry, but mostly stayed inside, guarding their keep.

Only moonrise after their departure, Sephiroth came back with his rather large hunting pack. I discovered that unlike most animals, humans seem to have three main packs: their blood pack, the pack they like to spend time with, and the pack they hunt or do work with.

I noticed something strange about the alpha, though. He seemed to be giving off a faint scent of worry or fear, which was _very _unusual for him.

I got up as Sephiroth came over to my sleeping spot, and mad a confused noise when he picked me up.

"Listen, Akuma. I know you can understand me. Rin is missing, and I need you to help me find her."

I knew Mama was called Rin by other humans. Missing? As in, lost? Unable to find her way back to me?

I yowled confidently, and wriggled out of his arms to go over to the fake pelt Mama slept on. It had her scent all over it, which I could use if I lost the trail. It _was _raining, after all.

Sephiroth picked me up me up again, as well as the pelt. "All right. I'll take you to where they were she was last."

My three noses were already searching the air for any trace of her, even though I knew she was probably very far away. The rain did make it more difficult, maybe even impossible for a normal canine. But my senses were enhanced beyond normal, so the rain was merely an annoyance to me.

The alpha took me over to where the large riding birds called chocobos were kept. A couple of other bipeds were accompanying us, and gave me strange looks. Sephiroth ignored them, like the chocobos did, and mounted a dark colored bird. The others mounted normal-colored ones.

That's another thing that separates me from other canines. I can see in most colors, but not as many as humans can.

The chocobos made noises that hurt my ears, but I didn't complain. Mama was lost out there, without me. I would find her, or die trying.

We rode the birds to what looked like an abandoned camp. Sephiroth stopped the bird and got off, setting me down on the earth.

"This is where Genesis's squadron began their mission. They probably came back here after they destroyed the base. Try to find her scent now." The alpha said quietly to me.

I didn't understand most of what he was talking about, but understood what he meant. I began to sniff around for Mama's scent. There were many human male scents here, mostly unrecognizable. I could smell the scent of one of Sephiroth's betas, though; the one who wears the red pelt. I opened my mouth to take in scents better and even licked at some spots. Finally, I found Mama's scent in two different spots. One led down the hill, and the other toward the forest.

I barked, getting my alpha's attention. I nosed the spot that led to the hill, and motioned with my tail the direction it went.

"That is the way to Fort Tsuka, the one they destroyed. Is there another trail, Akuma?"

I walked over to the second spot, and motioned toward the forest.

"The scent leads in there?" Sephiroth asked, and walked up to the tree line. "Can you still track it?"

I went past him, holding my heads up proudly. Of course I could. Less rain got into the forest, making the trail easier to follow. I heard my alpha call to the other humans, who were waiting with the riding birds.

And so, I walked with my noses to the ground, with Sephiroth behind me, holding the scent pelt. The other bipeds stayed well behind us. I had to make references to the pelt a few times, but the scent trail was actually getting stronger now. There were other scents accompanying Mama's, a very large number of humans. But then they all go on, while Mama's takes a different path by itself.

I quickened my pace, which was no problem for Sephiroth, but the humans soon fell behind. I could hear them calling, but I refused to slow down.

The scent was getting closer. Stronger. We were so close…

* * *

Rin's P.O.V.

I was having a dream. At least, I think it was a dream. It was about a young woman. She wore a blue dress, and had a rather naïve look. She was kneeling in a bed of flowers, her hands clasped together. Invisible fingers of the Lifestream swirled around her, whispering things that only she could hear.

And then, another woman appeared. She looked familiar to me, yet I knew I'd never seen her before. She had blue skin silver hair, and appeared to be naked. She was holding a long sword in her hand, and a jealous expression graced her face as she watched the girl speak silently to the Planet.

Slowly, she raised the sword, pointing it at the praying woman. The woman did not stir, nor even look up, but instead let a calm, accepting look settle over her features. The blue woman plunged the sword right through her back, her rage suddenly erupting. The kneeling woman only gave a small smile, intensifying her killer's anger by tenfold. No blood touched the air or blade, but her eyes still betrayed pain before they closed forever.

I jolted upright, flinging a heavy blanket to the floor. Akuma yowled as he went with it. Cold sweat was all over me, and I was panting heavily for some reason.

"I see you're finally awake," I turned to see Sephiroth enter the tent, and give Akuma an approving look. Akuma himself sat proudly, as if he meant to go flying to floor. "You've been out since yesterday. How are you feeling?"

I blinked slowly. "What happened?"

"That's what I would like to know. What happened with Genesis?"

Genesis. It all came flooding back—right down to the tree I had sat under.

"He deserted. All the Seconds and Thirds went with him. He tried to bring me too, but I didn't want to leave ShinRa. I ran off away from where they were heading, and they didn't bother to chase me."

"That's what I assumed. Akuma and I tracked you down from your mission starting point. We found you collapsed under a tree about a mile away." Sephiroth lifted the little cerberus back onto my cot, and said cerberus proceeded to curl up in my lap.

"Yea. It was raining… I tried to find my way back to the camp, but some fiends attacked me… I'm fine though, they weren't very tough. But I got so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open. I just wanted to rest; I didn't mean to fall asleep…"

I felt really cold, but didn't feel like going back to sleep under the warm covers. I wanted to hit something—destroy something. I started to get up, but Sephiroth gently pushed me back down.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I want to go train. I feel useless just lying around." I said. In truth, my dream freaked me out. I didn't want to have another weird one right now.

"You're going to stay here and get some rest. You might have hypothermia, sleeping out in the rain. Do you feel sick?"

"No. I'm fine, really!"

Akuma pushed me back into my bed. He crawled up to my face, and licked it. Seeming dissatisfied, he rested on my torso, preventing me from getting up.

"The dog seems to think different," Sephiroth said. "You're staying in here until tomorrow. Read if you wish." He patted Akuma's three heads. "I have more missions to go on. I should be back sometime during the night."

"Yes, sir."

Akuma licked my face again, getting nose and both ears at once.

"Akuma, I trust you'll look after her while I'm gone?" The General said, in an almost mock tone.

The dog gave a quiet ruff, and continued cleaning my face. Sephiroth left with a short goodbye, telling Akuma to keep up the good work.

As soon as Sephiroth was a far enough distance away, I sighed and got up. I was in my sleeping clothes, but they were drenched with sweat. I changed after telling Akuma to guard the entrance, putting on comfortable pants and a large tee-shirt. I grabbed a book from my stuff, and sat on the ground next to my cot to read. I scowled when I saw the title. _Loveless_. Despite the stinging sensation in my chest, I started to read it. It was actually pretty good, but it took me a moment after reading a sentence to decipher its meaning.

-_  
When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end  
The goddess descends from the sky  
Wings of light and dark spread afar  
She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting.  
-_

* * *

I bought a commission of Rin and Sephiroth from one of my sister's dA friends-she's a really excellent artist called Atomic Clover!

Please leave me a review... Even if its just a smiley face, it would make my day!


	11. XI Bloom

--

Hey peeps. This one is shorter than the last couple ones (3500 words) But hey, at least I didnt take a month...

Yes, now things are getting veeery interesting.... **REMEMBER: Fanart Link is on my profile. GO CHECK IT OUT AND THANK THE WONDERFUL ARTIST!!!**

_**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but Rin, Akuma, Yuki, and Clause. And any other random OCs I pull out of my butt XD**_

* * *

Yuki and Clause were stumped. Rin had been gone for a month now, and neither of them had received any word from the purple-eyed girl. The two of them were left to fend for themselves now that she was gone, in regards to bullies.

"Maybe she moved, and didn't want to tell us." suggested Clause.

"No, she wouldn't do that… she never really said how long she'd be gone, right? Maybe whatever she's doing is just taking longer than planned…" said Yuki, getting up from their spot on top of the jungle gym.

Just then, someone pushed her from behind, causing her to lose her balance. If it wasn't for Clause, she would've crashed face-first into the ground ten feet below. Rin may have trained them in basic combat, but compared to her physical prowess, they were less than amateurs.

"What's your problem??" Clause all but snarled, and helped Yuki regain her balance. The boy who had pushed her was none other than Clause's former leader—the one who got beaten up by Rin on her first day at the academy.

"This is _our _spot now," said the boy. "You can clear out now that it's clear your little _protector _isn't gonna come back."

"She will too come back!" Yuki shouted.

The boy just smirked. "I don't think s—"

He was interrupted when Yuki's fist collided with his face, sending him tumbling off the structure in surprise. The other boys paled, and climbed down to see if their boss was all right.

"Wow Yuki, Rin would be so proud!" Clause said, high-fiveing her.

"I know. That's what she would've done, right?"

"Yup. Well actually, she probably would've jumped after him and land with her feet in his eyeballs, on a second thought."

Yuki laughed. "Well… wherever she is, I hope she's alright.

* * *

Rin dodged another round of bullets from a Wutai private, this time by ducking and swiping at his legs with her katana.

'_It's not fair_,' Rin thought, _'All of them keep going for me just because I'm the smallest!'_

Two of them brought their glaives down to meet her blade. The next moment, both of them were skewered by the General, and flung towards a group of Wutain soldiers who were overpowering a smaller group of ShinRa infantrymen.

Rin spun around, and slashed a man across the chest before he could even swing his glaive. Akuma flew by her, chasing a Wutai commander with fireballs. The cerberus seemed reluctant to bite the humans for some reason, and stuck to his new-found ability of spitting fireballs and forming plasma spikes.

The battle had started when the Wutains decided to launch an attack on the ShinRa camp. It had only been a matter of time before they would've, so Sephiroth was expecting it. He didn't expect to be woken up in the middle of a planet-forsaken _thunderstorm_. Lighting lit up the night sky like strobe lights, turning the night into day every other second; thunder was all the fighters could hear, wet blood and rain all they could feel. Finally, the Wuatins decided to retreat after an hour of fighting. Neither side lost more than two soldiers, but everyone was exhausted and covered in mud, making it hard to distinguish friend from foe.

Rin was drained magically and physically; if her Bolt materia hadn't been previously Mastered, it certainly would've been now. It was super-powered thanks to the storm, but proved to be explosive in close quarters. Keeping Barrier up constantly like Sephiroth told her proved to be more difficult than she thought, as she had no way of knowing when it dissipated. As a result, she had a couple of bullet wounds, but nothing serious; she just had to remove the bullets before she could heal herself. But as she made for her tent, the ground seemed to tilt under her, and she ended in the mud again.

Rin felt a strong arm wrap around her before leaving the ground. A mud-covered Sephiroth had picked her up, and started checking her for wounds.

I was watching Akuma stalk a butterfly when my phone rang. Akuma and I had been assigned to watch a commonly used road, and to report any sightings of Wutain forces.

"Hello?"

"Rin. Return to camp. More SOLDIERs have been sent over from Midgar. I'll brief you when you get here." said Sephiroth's voice.

"No problem." I hung up. "C'mon, Akuma. Leave the poor butterfly alone; we're going back anyway."

I got back on a standard issue chocobo. After I returned him to the stables, I entered the briefing tent in the center of camp. Akuma had went back to our tent; he didn't like other soldiers very much.

"Ah, Rin. How nice to see you again." said Director Lazard. "Sephiroth was just telling me the finer details of Genesis's desertion. In fact, the forces I've brought with me are going to take down the very same fort Genesis was supposed to."

"Fort Tamblin?" I asked.

"The very same. I'm sure you know Zack Fair, Second Class SOLDIER?"

"Yes." I said, sitting down next to Sephiroth.

"He will be infiltrating the fort single-handedly. I will be assessing him for a possible promotion to First Class. Angeal recommended him."

"I'm sure he's thrilled."

"So, what will we be doing during all of this, Director?" Sephiroth asked.

"You'll be standing by, ready in case he needs backup. More than Wutai soldiers may be standing guard."

Sephiroth nodded. "Tonight, I assume?"

"Correct."

Sephiroth stood up. I did the same. "Well then, Director, Rin and I will go prepare. This assault could very well end the war, right?"

Lazard nodded. "You will be able to return to Midgar if all goes well."

Rin didn't know about Sephiroth, but personally, she felt like this mission wasn't going to end well. She didn't doubt Zack's abilities, and she wanted the war to end, but something just felt wrong…

* * *

As the academy came into sight, Rin was immediately glomped by a small but powerful seven-year-old girl.

"RIN! You're finally back!" Yuki cried. "Where have you been? What were you doing—"

"Yuki, Yuki, breath." Rin said. "I'll tell you later, don't worry."

The two of them continued on to the building, where they ran into Clause.

"Rin! Thank the Goddess, we thought you'd never come back."

"Oh come on guys, I've only been away for a month…"

"Closer to two months now, actually."

"Please, Yuki-chan. I didn't know you guys cared so much about me."

"Of course we do, Rin-chan! You're our friend."

The concept was still foreign to Rin. She was used to living without other humans, and to her it seemed like Yuki and Clause could disappear in an instant. And they very well could. Rin had to constantly remind herself that normal kids take friends for granted, and don't know what it's like to be alone.

Other kids had shocked expressions on their faces when they saw her. Rin didn't care what they thought; or what the teachers thought, for that matter. She was probably more intelligent than all of the teachers anyway. They were blabbing about 'make up work', or something, and wanted to know why she missed almost two months of class.

She told Sephiroth this when she got home, and he said that the Turks would probably go down there and straighten it out. Sephiroth seemed more stoic than usual, and Rin guessed it had something to do with Angeal deserting along with Genesis in Wutai.

"Rin there's something else as well. Hojo wants to see you in the Training Room on the SOLDIER floor to assess you." Sephiroth said, almost sounding bitter.

"Is that bad?" Rin asked.

"Probably. After you complete some tests, he'll most likely take you to the lab and give you something. Then he'll give you the same tests a while later, to compare the data."

"What exactly will he give me?" Rin asked, thinking of that painful shot she got when she first arrived in Midgar.

"I have no idea. You can never really be certain with Hojo." Sephiroth clasped her shoulder. "Just keep on your guard."

Rin nodded, and went down to the SOLDIER floor. When she reached the blue Training room, Hojo was already in there, and was watching a SOLDIER fight a copy of himself.

"Failures, all failures, I tell you…" Hojo was muttering to himself, while taking notes.

"Uh, Professor Hojo? Sephiroth told me you wanted to see me." Rin said, walking up to the creepy scientist.

"Hm? Oh yes, Experiment R. Yes, as soon as that… failure is finished, I have a program to run by you. Should be easy enough, if my predictions hold up…" He went on muttering as if Rin wasn't even there, and 'humph'ed as the SOLDIER left the simulation room, looking dejected.

Rin entered and drew her katana, not knowing what to expect. A projection of Sephiroth formed, and Rin immediately felt hopelessness and despair creeping into her mind.

"Don't worry; this imitation is not nearly as strong as the real thing… Let's see how you handle it?" Hojo voice said.

It was true— as Rin defended against the first blow from the copy, she immediately went to block his next combo strike. It was slower than she expected however, and after sparing with the real thing countless times, she actually had a chance of beating the watered-down copy.

The imitation was slower, and made stupid mistakes. It seemed to think Rin was a full-grown person, as it kept swinging right above Rin's head, missing her. Finally, after one more parry, the copy dissolved back into pixels, leaving an exhausted Rin.

When she walked back out into the viewing area, she saw Hojo furiously scribbling away at his clipboard. The real Sephiroth was also there, and glaring at the scientist for some reason.

"Rin. I saw your performance. Very impressive." Sephiroth said, as Rin approached him.

"Heh. It was nothing compared to you, Sephiroth." Rin said sheepishly.

"Child! Follow me upstairs!" Hojo said as he passed the two of them. "There's no need for you to come, boy." He said as Sephiroth made to follow.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, which Rin knew was a bad sign. He did stay, though, which made Rin even more nervous. She felt completely safe when Sephiroth was nearby; Hojo was creepy enough that she didn't want to be alone with him.

The lab hadn't changed much from when Rin was there last. The lion creature was still there, but looked knocked out. Rin felt sorry for it, remembering Akuma. He would hate to be locked up in a tank.

"Now, I just have some injections for you, but they might be—painful…" Hojo said, a weird smile on his face. He held up two syringes; one with mako, and the other with a substance Rin could not identify by sight.

The mako shot was unremarkable, but the unknown shot burned as it went in, and made her veins feel like they were on fire. She felt light-headed, and barely heard Hojo when he said she could return to her quarters. Thank the Goddess for elevators, because Rin probably would've stumbled down most of the stairs. Sephiroth was not back yet, and Rin almost smothered Akuma when she fell on top of him.

"Get your own bed…" Rin said to the dog, before passing out.

* * *

"Zack here."

"It's been a while, Zack." Sephiroth said, as we walked to an unknown destination.

"Sephiroth?" Zack's voice sounded confused.

"Come to Lazard's room."

"Al-alright." Zack hung up.

"Why are we going to Lazard's office, Sephiroth?" I asked.

"Zack is getting promoted."

My eyes widened a bit. "You didn't tell me sooner!?"

"You would've told him."

"…"

The war was officially over now. Everyone was happy now, except for Wutai, who had been reduced to a mere tourist attraction now. It was quite sad, to think of all their great warrior potential put to waste.

"Lazard will also be briefing us about Genesis and Angeal, so pay close attention."

"… Are you going to refuse again?"

"No. I won't have to."

"Whatever. We're going to have to face them sooner or later. You and I both know the army doesn't stand a chance of catching them."

Sephiroth said nothing after that. I figured it must be hard for him; if I was ordered to kill Yuki and Clause, of course I would refuse, so I can see where he's coming from. But on the other hand, if Yuki or Clause were going on rampages and killing innocent people...

The two of us arrived at Director Lazard's room, and we exchanged quick greetings. Sephiroth settled against a wall with a clipboard to wait for Zack, while I looked over the books Lazard had in the room.

Zack arrived about a minute later. He regarded Sephiroth coolly while giving me a quick smile. Lazard turned around in his chair, and spoke to Zack.

"Congratulations. As of this moment, you're promoted to SOLDIER First Class." Lazard said simply.

Zack's face sort of fell.

"Huh… I thought I'd be happier." he said, a small amount of disappointment present in his voice.

No one said anything for a moment. I kept silent, knowing my place.

"Understandable," Lazard said finally. "Too much happened too fast." he said, resting his chin on his fist.

Sephiroth crossed his arms, as if preparing for something. Only I saw it though, so it made me slightly weary. I hate it when he keeps me out of the loop.

"Zack, I'm afraid I need your assistance again." Lazard said carefully.

Zack turned his head to look at Sephiroth. "Are you pushing another assignment on me?" he said with a slightly accusing tone.

Sephiroth sighed, and looked at Zack. "My apologies." He said simply.

Zack turned back to Lazard. "Whatever." He then left for a couple minutes to go change his uniform, and when he returned, Lazard began the briefing.

"The company had decided to eliminate Genesis and his cohorts," Lazard said, standing up. "This includes Angeal as well."

"And you want me to do it?" Zack asked with disbelief.

"No, the ShinRa army will handle it."

"What about me?"

"They don't trust you."

"They believe your emotions will hamper your judgment." Sephiroth said, as he moved to stand beside me. Zack pounded Lazard's desk in frustration.

"Well, of course!"

"That's why we're going too."

I looked up at Sephiroth, one brow raised in a silent question. Zack did too.

"To kill them?" Zack asked, sounding strange. Sephiroth actually smirked, but only a little.

But then, of course, red lights and sirens began to go off, startling all of us. Everything began to lock down.

"An intruder." Lazard said, checking his computer.

"Where!?" Zack asked.

"Close. Sephiroth, the president," The General nodded, and motioned for me to follow him. "Zack, entrance."

Sephiroth and I made it to the president's floor in record time. Mr. Shinra was there, and I saw him for the first time. He was… rounder than I expected.

"There you are, General! What took you so long?" The president said, rather rudely.

"I was in a meeting, sir." I gasped mentally. I'd never heard Sephiroth call _anyone_ sir; it sounded very, very strange.

"Of course. And what's with the kid?"

A couple of Turks were guarding the door, so I just stood near Sephiroth and loosened my katana in its sheath. The president was making me nervous, but I tried not to show it.

"She's my apprentice. I assume Professor Hojo briefed you months ago?"

The president concentrated for a moment, trying to remember. "I recall something along those lines. Didn't expect it to be a little girl, though." He said with a chuckle. I had to stop myself from narrowing my eyes.

"She's more than capable, I can assure you." Sephiroth said, pulling out a green Magic materia.

"I see. And does 'she' have a name?" President Shinra asked, looking at me.

"Rin." I said, as Sephiroth cast a Mastered Barrier spell over the president.

The president just 'hm'ed, sat there at his desk, and did paperwork. Said paperwork went flying when the giant window behind us shattered by three Genesis copies flying into the room.

The president fell over, which was good because a blade sliced through the air he had been occupying. Sephiroth skewered the g-copy and flung it out the now-open window. I took down one of the copies that was going for the Turks with sort of jump and down-stab. The last copy was cut into little sticky pieces by Sephiroth in less than three seconds.

More came in, this time lead by a more refined-looking copy with a sort of gunblade. I engaged the gunblade-weilder, while Sephiroth and the Turks took care of the other seven copies.

The copy wasn't very fast, but the strikes he landed were powerful. After exchanging some blows that made my arms feel like jelly, I rolled away and prepared to use a spell. The copy shot at me, but Sephiroth must have cast Barrier on me too, because they were all deflected.

I shot some lightning toward him, and that stunned him long enough for me to close in and finish him off. As soon as I did though, two more G-copies tackled me from behind. Damning my small stature, I felt shards of glass from the window dig into my stomach and legs.

I heard one of the Turk's guns go off twice, and I felt the two copies slide lifelessly off me. Scrambling back up, I looked around for the President. He was backed into a corner, with Sephiroth guarding him from another super copy. He was moving his sword so fast that I couldn't even see it, and after a few seconds, the super copy just sort of slide apart into ten different pieces.

"Clear." said a Turk, receiving a signal from downstairs that Genesis's forces were retreating.

Sephiroth dismissed his sword, and walked over towards me. I then remembered I still had glass shards in me. The president waddled slowly back to his deck, breathing heavily, while Sephiroth tended to me.

"Ah, you see, I knew I'd need you SOLDIERs… well, SOLDIER and a half…" he said, chuckling.

I was in no mood to listen to that lard ball. Glass shards hurt, especially on your stomach. Sephiroth had to pull all the pieces out before he could heal me. I kept I tight grip in his coat until he was done, making my fingers ache afterwards.

"If you'd excuse us, Mr. President, Rin and I should go check the situation outside."

"Of course, of course, General. I'm sure my two Turks can handle everything here." said the president tiredly. "Send me a copy of your report, when you finish it."

"Of course, sir."

It was that word again: sir. It doesn't matter that he's the president—that word should not be coming from Sephiroth's mouth. Doesn't that lard ball realize that Sephiroth could have him in a hundred pieces I less than two seconds?

In the elevator, Sephiroth's phone rang.

"Yes?" he said.

I couldn't make out what the person on the other end was saying, and Sephiroth didn't say much either. When he hung up however, a light smirk crossed Sephiroth's face.

"What's going on?" I asked. Like I said, I hate being kept out of the loop.

Sephiroth looked out the glass elevator towards Sector 5. "Angeal has been sighted."

* * *

I feel so evil leaving off on a cliffie. But I'm sure most of you know whats going to happen next anyway, so meh!

Hey, dont you click that back button without reviewing! I see you, and I inflict GUILT UPON YOU FOR BEING LAZY! REVIEW OR ELSE! (I have a rottweiler puppy...check my dA account for pics of his savageness!)

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	12. XII Meeting

**NOTE: If you haven't played Crisis Core yet, I'd suggest doing that now. I should've said that a couple chapters ago, but I digress. There will be MAJOR spoilers! Also, the scenes will flow much better for you if you've seen the original cutscenes from CC. If you don't have a PSP (I pity you) go watch cutscenes on Youtube! They're esay to find in Japanese with subs or English dubs if you perfer. I rather like the Japanese voices myself... I think they're much better than the English ones. **

**fanart...**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING BUT RIN.**

* * *

"So, Hollander's lab is here somewhere?"

"Probably."

"And Zack is coming…why?"

"Do you not want him to come?"

"Of course I do! But isn't it likely we'll run into Angeal?"

"That's the point. Angeal will only show himself to Zack."

"Whatever…"

Sephiroth and I descended even further into the reactor. When we reached the bridge, Sephiroth pulled out his phone. He dialed Zack's number.

"Once Sector 8 is clear, come to Mako Reactor 5." Sephiroth said as soon as someone picked up.

"Did you find something out?" I heard Zack ask.

"Angeal has been sighted."

Zack sort of growled. "So its search and destroy?"

"The army is mobilizing, but there's still time. We will find them before they do, and—"

"And WHAT?" Zack shouted, upset. Sephiroth pulled the phone away from his ear and scowled momentarily. I giggled to myself.

"Fail to eliminate them." Sephiroth finished, his lips turning upwards slightly.

"For real?" Zack asked, sounding happy almost immediately.

"Yes, for real." _Another phrase Sephiroth shouldn't be allowed to say…_

"Excellent, err, probably!"

Sephiroth hung up, still smirking. "Angeal was right. He really is just like a puppy."

"Hahaha. Why don't you say that to his face?" I said, grinning.

Sephiroth just hmphed. "We don't get signal here, so I want you to figure out where all of these ladders lead. I'll wait here for Zack."

"Sure, no problem." I said.

All Mako Reactors had the same basic layout. I had looked at a map of one in a book I'd read, so I recalled as much as I could from that. I dropped down into the lower section, and couldn't help but be amazed by the sight of all that raw mako beneath me. I could only imagine the horror of somebody who was unfortunate enough to fall—or be pushed—into the mako.

That actually made me stop for a moment. What _would _happen to someone who was engulfed by such a thing? Surely, they would just go straight into the Lifestream... right?

Clearing my head of such thoughts, I proceeded to the main terminal. I noticed that it wasn't on for some reason. I turned it back on, confused. I returned to where Sephiroth was, and saw Zack a couple bridges over. A fiend attacked him, but he easily defeated it. We approached him as bent over for a closer look.

"Is that Angeal's face?" I heard Zack say.

"It appears Genesis isn't the only one who can be copied." Sephiroth said.

Sephiroth then launched into a story, which was sort of unusual for him. Zack and I were hanging over the handrail while Sephiroth was talking, just enjoying each other's presence and how Sephiroth described the 'friendly' battle between him and Genesis on top of a simulated Mako cannon. It ended with him hurting Genesis (accidentally, of course…).

"So, was everything alright?" I asked.

"Yes—as far as Genesis was concerned," Sephiroth smirked. "But, as for Angeal…"

"Angeal? What happened?" Zack asked.

Sephiroth hmphed again. "Later, I received one of his famous lectures."

"About what?"

"Always the same. Discipline, dreams, honor, ect."

"Ah, one of those, huh?"

It was nice seeing Zack and Sephiroth on friendly terms. It would've been horrible if Zack kept a grudge, but it seems Sephiroth's little story did the trick.

Sephiroth walked over to the corpse of the fiend Zack killed. "So it's true… they're in league with Hollander."

"How could this happen?" Zack asked quietly, gripping the rail in front of him with both hands. I could feel his despair, but he bottled it all up. "Angeal, what are you thinking?"

"Apparently, Hollander's secret laboratory is down here. Perhaps we can find some information about Angeal's whereabouts there."

"Alright, let's go." Zack said.

We found the door that lead to the lab after about ten minutes of searching other doors. The lab itself looked like a cleared-out storage room, but with all sorts of machines and files that didn't belong there. There were also two tanks, each with a growing monster inside—they too, had Angeal's face.

"A wretched sight…" Sephiroth said.

Zack went over to a report lying on a machine. He read it, and sighed in distress. "I'm feeling woozy…"

Sephiroth looked at the report. I took it from Zack and started reading it too.

"_Report on the SOLDIER Degradation Phenomenon"_

_The heightened abilities of SOLDIER members are maintained by a delicate balance of various genetic factors. A change in this balance could only be caused by a 'leak' of genetic information, but this is not possible under normal circumstances. This phenomenon is unique to SOLDIER Type G._

"It was before Genesis deserted. The wound he had was superficial, but for some reason, Genesis wasn't healing.

"The man who treated him was… Hollander. He said Genesis would need a transfusion, but I wasn't viable… a SOLDIER Type G…" Sephiroth said, while looking at the tank in thought.

I went over and looked at _"The Ancients Project – Outline"_

_It is now an undisputed fact that the life form excavated from the earth is indeed of the ancient race spoke of in legend. Furthermore, history records that these 'Ancients' channeled the power of this planet to tear the earth asunder. Using the cells of the unearthed Ancient, we have begun research on creating and mass-producing a race with comparable abilities. The primary objective of this research is to significantly reduce mako excavation costs. _

I must have imagined it, but I thought I heard a strange, almost sadistic chuckle. It was in my head though, so that made me even more confused. I went over to the last file.

"_Project G-Summary". _

_Objective: Implant the cells of an Ancient into a human fetus to imbue said fetus with the Ancient's abilities. _

"What about this one, Sephiroth?"

"It was Hollander's experiment. The result was a normal child. Which meant he failed. However…

"Project G gave birth to the man we know as Genesis."

"Project G?" Zack asked.

"Project Genesis." Sephiroth looked at the file again. "Contrary to this report, Genesis showed clear signs of change."

"Degrading?" I guessed.

"Not only that."

"Copies…?" Zack said. Sephiroth went over to the front tank.

"Abominations."

Hollander, unaware of our presence, chose that moment to descend into his not-so-secret lab. "S-Sephiroth?"

"Hollander. I thought I'd find you here."

Even though it looked rather bleak for Hollander, he looked rather smug.

"The degradation process—only I can stop it."

Sephiroth stepped forward, but Genesis himself descended in front of Hollander. He had a large black wing protruding from his left shoulder blade. His rapier was already in hand. He smirked at Sephiroth.

"Genesis." As soon as he said that, the ex-SOLDIER raised his sword to Sephiroth's throat. Sephiroth himself looked unfazed, but Zack and I were uneasy.

"You won't take Hollander." Genesis said, shielding him with his wing. Hollander then took off, running back up the stairs.

"Zack! Go after Hollander!" Sephiroth ordered. Zack complied, but Genesis didn't look worried for some reason.

I had my hand on my katana, but Sephiroth didn't look angry; in fact, he looked almost sad. Genesis lowered his sword, and stepped forward to pass Sephiroth. The silver-haired warrior stood rigid.

"There is no hate, only joy. For you are beloved by the Goddess. Hero of dawn, Healer of worlds."

"Loveless again? You never change." Sephiroth said, still not moving.

"Three friends go into battle. One is captured. One flies away. The one that is left becomes a hero."

"A common story."

"If we were to enact it, would I be the one to play the hero, or would you?"

"It's all yours." Sephiroth said, finally turning around to Genesis. His face betrayed nothing, but I could tell he spoke the truth.

"Indeed. After all, your glory should have been mine." Genesis said, slowly pacing.

"How petty." Sephiroth said, looking away from Genesis.

"In hindsight, perhaps. Now what I want most is 'the gift of the Goddess'." Genesis extended his wing a bit, making black feather float around us.

Sephiroth and Genesis were now facing each other, and silent. Genesis smirked. I, meanwhile, had no idea what he was talking about. Sure, in _Loveless_ they talk about the gift of the Goddess, but no one knows what it was.

"Rin, go find Zack." Sephiroth said, not looking away from Genesis. I nodded, and took off. It was times like these that I wished I had Akuma with me. I could see some scuff marks and large gashes in the metal walls, but it wasn't much to go by. Some Angeal-type fiends attacked me a couple of times, but they were easily taken care of.

I eventually got to the outer section of the plate, where I could see the sky. It seemed to be some sort of cargo bay, with crates and suchlike. There was also a large hole in the metal floor, with scorch marks. I looked down—I couldn't see the bottom, but I figured it would lead to somewhere in the slums. There were obvious battle marks here too; three large battle-robots lay destroyed and still smoking. They were all made by ShinRa, but the logos were crossed out by red X's.

There weren't any exit points other than the entrance, so I still had no idea where Zack was. I hoped he didn't fall down the hole—knowing him, though, he probably did.

I sighed, and retraced my steps to Hollander's lab. Genesis was gone, but Sephiroth was still standing there, as if in a daze. His Masamune was in his hand, and black feathers still floated around the room.

"Sephiroth? Hollander and Zack are gone." I said, going up to him.

Sephiroth still didn't move. "You okay?" I asked. Still nothing.

My heart sank. It must be so hard for him, having to fight the only friends he'd ever had. I understood where he was coming from, being from the same place myself. When you're a lab rat, everything looks hopeless. When you finally get out, make friends, and start to enjoy life, you don't realize how quickly that can all be taken away.

Not knowing what else to do, I put my arms around his middle. He stiffened, but relaxed after a moment.

"… Sorry." Sephiroth said.

"Please don't be. I understand." I said, staring into his coat. He turned around to face me, and kneeled down to my level.

"It's just… I want to help him, but I don't think I can. I just don't understand him anymore."

"So he's jealous of you, big deal. You didn't ask to become a hero."

Sephiroth was silent for a moment. "He's going to attack ShinRa again. We need to get back." he said, standing up. But I wasn't about to let this end on a sour note. Grinning, I jumped on his back, surprising him.

"Again? What's he after?" I said, careful not to pull his hair.

A small smile formed on his face. "Hollander wants Hojo dead, apparently." he said, dismissing his sword to wherever it went when he wasn't using it.

I raised my eyebrows and whistled. "He needs to get in line, then."

* * *

"It's made out of onyx." Sephiroth said.

"It's very pretty. Where did you get it?" I said, feeling the miniature wing.

"Is that important?" he asked.

"No," I said, putting the pendent around my neck. By the way the it was curved, it looked to be the right wing of something. "Thank you very much. I'll always wear it!"

The corners of Sephiroth's mouth tipped upwards slightly. "I'm honored."

We stopped in front of the data room. "So, how long do you plan on staying here?"

"Until I find what I'm looking for."

I put my arms behind my head. "Sure. Just come home to sleep, okay? I don't wanna have to send Akuma after you."

He clasped my shoulder, and entered to room, after giving the guard his phone. Sighing, I headed back to our quarters, content with playing video games for the rest of the day.

* * *

"Yuki-chan, are you sure you want to do this? It's kinda dangerous down here…"

"Of course! I want to see it; it can't be that bad, right?"

Yuki and I were currently on our way to the slums. Yuki somehow convinced me it would be a good experience for her, seeing as she's never stepped foot out of the plate thanks to her parents. I'd been to the slums a few times before, but not without a First around. Sephiroth was still locked up in the data room, and Zack was gone on some mission. Angeal and Genesis were, obviously, still MIA.

"Okay, okay, fine. Just stay close to me, alright?" I said, and took Yuki's hand. It would be too easy for kids like us to get separated down there.

Were arrived in the Slums Marketplace, where there were lots of shops selling just about everything you could think of. Materia, items, accessories…

"Hey Rin-chan, can we look at the Materia Shop? I want to get one." Yuki said, pulling me over to the stand that showcased glowing orbs of different colors.

"Yuki, why don't I just give you one of mine? You don't have to buy one."

"It's not like they're expensive. And I wouldn't even be able to use any of your materia; they're all Mastered!"

"My summon isn't…" I mumbled in defense.

"Don't worry; I just want a basic Restore."

Yuki walked up to the man at the shop. He raised his eyebrows at her. "Can I help you, young lady?"

Yuki looked over the light-green materia. "May I have one Restore, please?"

"Sure, no problem. Mastered or unmastered?"

"Unmastered, please." Yuki said, getting out her purse.

"That'll be 1000 gil, miss." Yuki handed him the appropriate amount, and the man gave her the materia in a little box.

We proceeded to walk around some more, and eventually went out to explore. Yuki and I found a playground in Sector 6; it was almost the same as the one we had at our school. A group of children our age were already there, playing SOLDIER. Yuki asked if we could join them.

"Aw, c'mon Rin, we really should make some friends down here."

"They could be pickpockets; in fact, give me your wallet."

"Whyyy?"

"Do you want someone to steal it?" I asked patently.

"Fine…" She gave me her purse, which was shaped like a cat's head, and I stuffed it in one of my side pockets.

A kid noticed us, and came over. "Hey, do you guys wanna play SOLDIER with us? Its more fun with more people."

Yuki gave me the puppy face. I sighed in defeat. "Alright, we'll play." I said.

The boy smiled. "Awesome! You guys can pick who you want to be first, then."

We followed the boy back to his friends. "Alright guys, this is…?"

Yuki introduced herself, and so did I. There was two boys and one girl, whose names where Drake, Kyle, and Sarah.

"Okay, so who do you wanna be?" Drake asked Yuki.

"Ummm… Genesis Rhapsodos. He's pretty." Yuki said. I face-palmed myself.

"Sure. What about you, Rin?"

"Sephiroth." I said simply.

The girl named Sarah chose Zack, which made me smile. Drake chose a First by the name of Hathaway, who I knew by sight, but never met. Kyle, the remaining boy, chose to be Angeal.

The game ensued, which was sort of like a tag game, with one person holding a stick. You had to hit someone three times with a the stick in order to 'kill' them. Whoever got killed first was it for the next round.

We ran around, shouting things like "Oh no! Sephiroth is closing in on Genesis for the kill; will Genesis escape? No, he's down!" We ran around the playground, up and down the slide, through the swing set, and under the tunnel. But all too soon, the kids had realized what time it was and retreated home, shouting that they would like to play again tomorrow.

Yuki had a sad look on her face, because she knew she wouldn't be able to come back. Times like this is when I felt almost guilty, even though I knew there was nothing I could do to sway her parents.

"C'mon Yuki-chan, there's plenty more to explore." I said, me pulling _her _this time. We back-tracked a bit, and went in the opposite direction of the playground, into Sector 5.

There was less people around here, with rubble and debris littering the streets. Like everywhere else in the slums, the sky is hidden by the plate. Even though I'd only been down there a couple hours, the lack of fresh air was depressing. I couldn't imagine living down here.

"Rin-chan, is that a church?" Yuki asked, pointing ahead of us.

"I think so…" It was indeed a church; its architecture was very impressive, despite the fact that the building looked like it was falling apart. The walls were made of stone, but the wooden roof had several holes in it. Some walls appeared to be crumbling, while others stood intact.

Churches weren't common; they used to be, back when people worshiped the Goddess seriously. With the rise of ShinRa, most people abandoned the practice.

"Do you think it's okay if we go in?" Yuki asked,

"It should be…" I said slowly, leading Yuki up the steps. I pushed open the wooden doors, revealing an equally demolished interior. One wall was decorated with an intricate tapestry; elegant carvings covered most of the other walls. Wooden pews took up space near the door, while the front of the church was open. A large patch of flowers covered the ground, bathed by a ray of sunlight that somehow dodged the plate.

A young woman was tending to the white and yellow flowers, humming to herself. She looked familiar to me somehow, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

The young woman heard us, and turned around. Her eyes fell on me. "Rin?"

I hid my surprise the best I could. "That's me."

She smiled, and stood up. "Zack has told me all about you! I'm glad we've finally met."

I let out a sigh. Of course this was all Zack's doing, somehow.

"And who are you?" the lady asked playfully to Yuki.

"Yuki. Rin's my best friend." Yuki answered politely. "And you are?"

"My name is Aerith. Would you two care to help me with the flowers?" she asked, smiling again.

Yuki accepted immediately, for both of us. I didn't mind really, I was just worried about hurting the delicate things. In fact, I've never even seen a real flower before, only pictures.

"You don't see flowers very often." I said, carefully kneeling in the flowers across from Aerith.

"No. They only grow here, for some reason." Aerith went on to show us how to properly weed, and how to preserve a flower for a long time. As we watched her, a memory came rushing back to me, almost making crush a pale yellow bud.

That dream, in Wutai. Aerith was the girl who got stabbed. But who was the other woman? And did that mean this lady was an Ancient? Is she really going to die? It was just a dream, right…?

"Rin? Are you alright?" Yuki asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. I lowered my hand from my face, which I didn't remember putting there in the first place, and returned to the flowers.

"It's nothing, just some dust, that's all."

It was getting late out. We'd been at the church for about two hours now, and the light outside was becoming more artificial and less natural.

"Okay girls, I think you should head on home now. Here," She plucked two flowers from the garden, one yellow and one white. "Take these. Be sure to put them in water soon, so it can live, okay?"

Yuki accepted the white one. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of it!" she said, cradling the bud like it was an infant.

Aerith handed me the yellow one. "And make sure you tell Zack to come visit me when he gets back, okay?"

I nodded, and carefully held the flower. "I will. It was nice meeting you, Aerith."

She gave us directions to her house, in case we ever needed to find her. When I dropped Yuki off at her parent's house back up on the plate, my thoughts drifted back to Zack, and Sephiroth.

The ShinRa Building was all lit up as usual, banishing every shadow to the slums below. I sped up my effort to reach my quarters when I remembered the life of a flower was in the balance. I knew it was just a flower, but it was so pretty, I didn't want it to wilt away like a weed. So many good people did just that, down in the slums, wasting talent that could help the world so much. But under the plate, _everything _suffocated.

Akuma greeted me lazily, yawning with all three mouths. I only gave him a quick pat before hurrying to the kitchen, and filling a large cup with water. I placed the flower inside, smiling. Akuma looked up at me as if I was crazy, and whined for more attention. I set the make-shift vase down on the kitchen table, and picked my little bundle of joy up around his middle.

"Oh Akuma, you're such a jealous puppy, aren't you?" I said into his manes, while he attempted to lick me. I let him, feeling his three tongues seemingly wash away all my troubles. Sometimes I wished I could see life as simply as Akuma could.

* * *

I see you. Don't think I can't. You click that review button, or...or... well, something bad will happen! Hey, back away from the back button! You're going to make me cry if you don't review my horrible story! TT^TT


	13. XIII Lighting

Please, don't kill me! I've actually had this chapter done for a while, but due to computer problems I had wait a bit... sorry, sorry...

Don't worry, it's nice and long for all you who bother to read this! ^_^

**FANART ON MY PROFILE. LOOK AT IT**

* * *

It was only just then that I realized I was already eight years old. Between Wutai, the desertions, and all the death, October had slipped by me unnoticed. It was already June again, but autumn weather was already showing. Seasons are irregular thanks to our planet's orbit; see, I _did _learn something in school!

As much as I resisted it, time slipped onwards. It seemed that a month was more like a week, with a week being more like a day. Everything around me was changing, all except for the weather, it seemed. Zack's hair went from being spiky and all over the place, to being gelled back with one strand hanging down in his face. The Buster sword hung at his back now, having passed on from Angeal to Zack. Zack told me everything that had happened in Modeoheim, even though he was in tears while he did so.

Even with Genesis dead and Hollander captured, sightings of G copies were still popping up all over the world. Sephiroth and I were ordered to revisit Modeoheim, because the device Hollander had been using was stolen. _Again. _

And if that wasn't bad enough, Director Lazard, head of SOLDIER, had disappeared. Not only that, but it turns out it was him who was funding Hollander's research, using the company's money. Soon after that, the news of an attack in Junon reached us, as well as the fact that Hollander had managed to escape. Everything was upside down; things were supposed to get better, not worse. If Hollander escaped, Angeal would have died for nothing.

* * *

We arrived at the air base, with two Turks at our side. Enormous air ships and helicopters were arranged in neat rows, gleaming in the orange light of the setting sun. Zack was already here, and had the scientist cornered. The only way to escape was to jump about a hundred feet down into the harbor.

However, that's exactly what Hollander did. Two winged G copies caught him and carried him off southward, with all possible haste. Now it was up to the Turks and their helicopters to catch them.

"Mission failed. That goes on your permanent record." Sephiroth said lightly, as Zack had not yet noticed us.

"Sephiroth? Rin? Long time no see!" Zack said, a smile forming on his face.

"Let the Turks take care of the rest. We were on our way to Modeoheim, but I heard you were in the area."

"Lucky me," Zack said, slightly sarcastic.

"The situation has not resolved. Genesis copies have been sighted around the world." I said, staring after the escapee. A black chopper with the ShinRa logo on it soon obscured my vision.

"That can't be," Zack said slowly. "We wiped out those Genesis copies."

"Did Genesis really die?" Sephiroth asked evenly, while Zack adopted a thoughtful look.

I tuned out the two SOLDIERs, and instead gazed over the horizon. I'd never been to the sea before, and I'd never swam in anything bigger than a bathtub. The dark waters actually creeped me out a little.

The sea continued to suck the sun into its depths, making the water sparkle and glitter. The long barrel of the Mako Cannon seemed to stare the sun down, until only a sliver remained over the horizon.

Genesis must be alive. It was depressing to think about, but it made sense. No one saw him join the Lifestream, a process I was all too familiar with now. Angeal, on the other hand, had burst into pyreflies while Zack was still there; cementing in the fact that he was dead.

I watched Zack as he retreated. He had looked up to Angeal so much. I would be lost without Sephiroth or Akuma, or even Zack or Yuki. Friends may not be necessary to survival, but they are what give _meaning _to survival.

* * *

The next day was the last day I ever went to school, but I didn't know it then. Zack was spending the whole day with his girlfriend, and Sephiroth had lots of running around to do at headquarters, so I hung out with Yuki and Clause after school. Yuki had a mog hat on today. Despite that, a somber mood seemed to hang in the autumn air. Out of the blue, Yuki asked,

"Rin-chan, I just thought of something; when you go on missions, you might not come back, right?" It was more of a statement rather than a question.

"Uh, I suppose. But you don't have to worry about me, Yuki-chan. there's not a lot out there that can get past Sephiroth."

Yuki smiled, but with her it was impossible to tell if it was fake or not. Clause changed the subject to the weather, which was still getting colder.

"Clause-kun, why do you want it to snow? It's freezing enough already!" Yuki shouted at him, joking around. The school playground was empty except for us, so her voice seemed to echo into the city beyond.

"I didn't say that! I just said that snow would be nice, so school could close."

"Ha, if that happened, Sephiroth would just have practice all day. Outside. He's being really hard on everyone since we lost two Firsts." I said, keeping the mood light. It was true; Zack's stepped up to lighten the General's workload, and has been a tremendous inspiration to the lower ranks.

My phone went off, and so did the smile off my face. It was Sephiroth.

"Yes?" I asked, stopping halfway in the task of climbing a slide. Clause and I were racing up two parallel ones, and he scrambled to the top of his while I stopped randomly and balanced in place.

"You need to come back to Headquarters. Now." He hung up.

I groaned into the dead line and flipped my phone closed. I hated leaving my friends, but Sephiroth's tone stirred something in the pit of my stomach, something uneasy.

"Guys, I gotta go. I'm sorry." I said, sourly jumping back to the ground.

Yuki and Clause knew that particular phrase meant that there was no way I could argue.

"It's okay, Rin-chan. If it's a mission, you better come back safe, you hear?" Yuki said, running up to me and giving me a long hug.

"Yeah, if you die, we'll … we'll…" Clause struggled to find an appropriate threat.

"Don't worry so much, guys. It's just another routine mission. If it was really serious, Zack would have come and got me himself. Or even Sephiroth."

As I walked away from them, I had no idea that this mission would change my life and the life of everyone on the planet. I had no idea that would be the last time I played in that park. I had no idea that that would be the last time I ever saw my friends alive.

* * *

Normal P.O.V.

Nibelheim had not changed much since the last time Rin had been there. The only difference was that a couple Infantrymen were here instead of Genesis and Angeal, and that Akuma was accompanying them. The inn was the same, the water tower the same, and the people the same. Well, not all of them…

Rin's first 'real' friends, Sara and Lily, were playing around the water tower. They had grown up a bit. Tifa was there too, now fifteen years old. She was sporting a cowgirl ensemble and had been watching her young friends play a game of hopscotch.

Rin had a bad feeling about returning here. Sure, she was excited about seeing her friends again…but something felt off. Like an itch at the back of her mind. Of course, being an eight-year-old, Rin didn't really think too much on such feelings. Sephiroth was with her; as long as he was near, nothing could go _too _wrong.

They stopped at the gate. Akuma, after seeking Rin's and the Alpha's approval, went off to investiagte the new surroundings.

"So, how does it feel?" Sephiroth asked an infantryman, named Cloud. Apparently, he grew up here. "To be home after all this time? I have no hometown, I wouldn't know."

The infantryman seemed to be overwhelmed by the General's attention, so Zack helped him out.

"Uh… what about family?" Zack asked. Sephiroth turned around.

"My mother's name is Jenova. She died shortly after I was born. My father…" Sephiroth stopped, and actually chuckled. "Why am I talking about this? The only one who really matters..."

He put a hand on Rin's shoulder and turned around again. Rin, who had been following him silently, grinned.

"Come on, let's go."

The ShinRa party checked into the local inn, already familiar with the surrounding town. Sephiroth said they would be leaving for the reactor at dawn, and to get plenty of sleep. He retired, while Rin went off to greet her friends.

"Rin? Is that really you?" the one named Sara said, as Rin closed in on them.

"I thought we would never see you again!" her sister Lily exclaimed, and rushed up to hug her friend.

"We're back here for another mission. Can't say much about it, though." Rin replied, smiling at her friends bewildered faces.

Tifa came over from the wall she was leaning on. "Hey, I remember you. You're with SOLDIER. Rin."

"Uhuh. You're Tifa." Rin said, feeling proud of herself for not forgetting.

Tifa smiled. "I'll leave you kiddies to your games. I'll see you around." And with that, she went off in the direction of the inn.

The three girls talked for a bit, catching each other up on. Rin didn't say too much on what she'd been up to at ShinRa, knowing some things are better left unsaid. But it was a nice change to talk about simple things, rather than the military and political matters she had to deal with.

Rin said goodbye when the sun started to go down, much to Sara and Lily's disappointment. None of them saw the silhouette of a winged man crouched on a high rooftop, watching their every move.

* * *

Rin's P.O.V.

Sleep did not come easy for me. Usually Sephiroth's presence is soothing, but something was just off. Maybe it was because Akuma still wasn't back yet. And when I finally did fall asleep, bad dreams plagued me.

_The town was burning. People were screaming, some caught in the flames. I stood tensely in the middle of it all, somehow unaffected by the blaze. It was a dream, after all. _

_The fire parted. A now-familiar figure stood there. The blue woman, again. I remembered her from my dreams about Aerith. She was still holding Sephiroth's sword. _

_She didn't do anything, just looked up at me, and slowly turned around and walked away, through the flames. I couldn't chase her, or look anywhere else, and as soon as the last lock of silver hair was gone, I was forced back into consciousness._

I woke up in cold sweat, just like all the other times. I heard whispering around me, but I soon realized the only other person in the room was a now-awake Sephiroth. I rubbed my face, and wondered, not for the first time, if I was going insane.

"Another dream?" Sephiroth asked quietly. He wasn't even in his bed, but meditating next to the window.

I nodded, knowing he could see me even in the dark. It would still be a few hours until dawn.

I got up, and sat down next to him. I tried to order my thoughts like Sephiroth taught me, but it just didn't happen. Fire sprang up whenever tried to focus.

For a while, we just sat there, trying to master our thoughts.

"You are unnerved," Sephiroth said after an hour, his voice carrying easily in the silence. "Do you wish to tell me about it?"

I shook my head. I didn't know why the woman always appeared with the Masamune, so I didn't want to distract him by asking what that could mean. Instead, I studied the colorful fingers of light that were attempting to climb over the far-off mountains.

"It's nothing. I'm just wondering where Akuma could have gone off to."

After a moment, Sephiroth responded. "Do not worry too much over the dog. You should attempt to get more sleep. You won't be coming with us to the reactor."

My eyes widened, and I sprang up. "Why not?" I wanted to shout, but I remembered that most people were still sleeping.

He paused again. "You are not the only one with turbulent feelings. There is something about this town that troubles me. I felt it the last time we were here, but it was dormant then."

I plopped down on my bed, feeling sour. "I still want to go," I said, stubborn.

Sephiroth rose as well, and retrieved his coat. "You will stay. And I will know if you try to follow."

I didn't reply, and decided to study my colorfully-woven blanket. That Akuma should be sleeping on. Sephiroth sighed, and slowly kneeled down next to me. "I know this upsets you. But I have my reasons. Please…"

Upon hearing that word, my eyes widened yet again and I stared at him, no longer interested in the patterns of my blanket.

"I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you. Until I know exactly what is causing these disappearances, I cannot risk… losing you. _They _were fully trained SOLDIERs. You…"

I understood. I launched myself off my bed and hugged him. I knew conveying his feelings was hard for him, and the fact that he cared enough about me to do something this stupid (or what seemed stupid to me) made my anger evaporate. Since he was still level with me, I pressed our foreheads together.

"Fine. I'll stay. But just this once…" I said, unable to stop my eyes from moistening a little. If Sephiroth noticed, he said nothing.

I watched Sephiroth and Zack be lead away by Tifa, who was guiding them to the reactor. The infantrymen followed behind them like ducklings. As soon as they were out of my range of sight, I went off to find my friends.

I found them near the mansion, playing with slingshots. They were testing their accuracy by aiming at the individual railings on the surrounding fence.

They made a game out of it, but since I had no projectile device, they soon lost interest. We retired to climbing trees.

I felt so distracted. Like I had to do something, but had no idea what. I examined the branches near the one I was sitting on, looking for ants to squish, when I found a large black feather sitting among some leaves. I picked it up, and carefully ran my fingers down one edge.

"Oooh, that's a nice one," Lily said from above me, when she saw what I was holding. "We keep finding them all over town, ever since a few days ago. No one's been seeing any big birds, though. It's really weird."

I frowned. Where I had I seen a feather like this before? My mind kept drawing blanks, so I said goodbye to my friends and returned to the inn to wait for Sephiroth. I felt bad about Sara and Lily, but I was afraid I was going to snap at them if I didn't calm myself.

I lounged in our hotel room until I heard the ShinRa party return. Or, what was left of it. When I went down to greet them, I saw only Zack, Tifa, and an infantryman.

"Hey Zack. What happened?" I asked, as Zack carried the infantryman up to their room. Apparently, he was out cold.

"Gimme a sec," Zack said, sounding tired.

He laid his friend down on a bed, and muttered something. He sat down on another bed, letting out a large breath.

I walked over to him, and prodded his stomach. "Not to be rude, but where is Sephiroth? What _happened_?"

Zack sighed again. "Genesis showed up. I guess he is still alive…"

I raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"He said some stuff to Sephiroth… something about him needing his help cuz he's degrading."

That puzzled me. How could Sephiroth possibly help with that?

"Then Sephiroth just left. Dunno where Genesis went. There were G copies when I went back outside the reactor—that's how Cloud got hurt. He was protecting Tifa."

"Greaaaat…" I mused, "This is just what we need. No wonder—those feathers. They were Genesis's."

Zack looked confused. "What feathers?"

"My friends said for a couple of days now, they keep finding these big black feathers laying around. But they had no idea what they could be from, as a bird that big couldn't have gone unnoticed." I said, sitting on the bed next to Zack. He now sat with his arms crossed, thinking.

"So that means Genesis was hanging around here, even before we got here?" Zack asked.

"I guess…"

But… why? Just to talk to Sephiroth? No, that wasn't it. Zack said Genesis asked Sephiroth to help with his degradation…

"So you don't know where Sephiroth is now?" I asked.

"Tifa said she'd ask around town to see where he went… I'm sure _someone _must have saw him. I mean, he's freakin' _Sephiroth_."

I contemplated that if he didn't want to be seen, Sephiroth could travel undetected… but then again, maybe not.

"I'm going to go help Tifa. I'll call you if I find him." I said, getting up and making the 'I'll call you' motion.

"Sure. I better wait until Cloud wakes up anyway… good luck." He messed up my hair before sending me out.

I almost ran into Tifa going out the door.

"Ah, there you are. I found out where Sephiroth is. The ShinRa manor."

That surprised me. "Huh. Thanks, Tifa. Hope it wasn't… too much trouble." I said, thinking.

"No problem. Hope you guys sort out…whatever needs to be sorted out." And with that, she tipped her hat at me and left.

I decided I'd call Zack once I actually _saw _Sephiroth. Zack looked like he could use a good rest, and I could handle a mansion on my own.

* * *

Once I was at the gate, Akuma sprang out of nowhere and knocked me over into the dust.

"Akuma! Where've you been?" I said, my voice instantly going motherly even though I was angry.

He just woofed and attacked my face with all three of his tongues.

"Alright, alright." I stood up and held him like a baby. "Will you help me find Sephiroth? I don't wanna search the whole place… Can you smell him?"

He woofed, and I set him down. He shook himself off before going to work. Three noses went into the dirt, and he made cute sniffing noises while moving around a little.

I assumed he had found the scent when he barked. He took off toward the manor, leaving me to chase him to the door.

The foyer featured a grand double staircase, along with numerous doors leading to various rooms. Akuma sniffed around at those before moving on. Up a staircase, and to the left… more doors. Akuma and I investigated those as well. Nothing but dusty furniture and a few painfully-weak fiends.

There was an eerie-looking vault in one room. Akuma sniffed that once before quickly backing away. He whined when I went near it.

"What? It's just a safe…" I tried the combination a few times, but I was unssuccessful. Oh well.

Going right at the staircases, we encountered a room with an out-of-place-looking stone wall. Said wall had a large opening in it that led to a rickety stairwell.

Akuma immediately went down the stairs, not even noticing the lack of a railing. The stairs were surprisingly sturdy, so I decided to speed up a bit and catch up with Akuma.

We were now in what appeared to be the 'basement', but it looked more like an underground hideout. That was defiantly a possibility, knowing ShinRa. The walls were now plain earth, with some metal support beams and single-bulb lights here and there. Steel stairs connected multiple natural-looking dirt platforms, encased by weak-looking railings.

Akuma and I traversed across all the platforms, but found only a dead end. Stumped, I turned around, and retraced my steps. Sure enough, hidden in a small alcove, was a steel ladder leading downwards.

Akuma confirmed the scent lead there, so I scooped him up and draped him across my shoulders. The ladder was also very old-looking, but once I stepped onto it, I felt like it could hold several times more my weight.

We descended into another plain-earth chamber, but this one was larger and leveled. Dirt pillars held up the ceiling, which seemed to be in no danger of collapsing. Random crates and barrels were litters around, and a couple of doors could be seen.

Akuma ignored all of these, however, and proceeded straight onwards. He trotted up to the door on the far side of the chamber, and whined quietly at it. He sat down, and waited for me to come to him.

I stopped infront of the door.

"Is Alpha in there?" I asked quietly.

He whined quietly again.

"I guess so…"

The door was metal, and opened by sliding the two sides apart. I did so, feeling almost a dread come over me.

The doors opened to a stone room, decorated with numerous machines and bookshelves. Four mako tanks sat against a far wall, empty. Sephiroth was indeed inside, pacing and reading from a book.

"A life form in a state of suspended animation, excavated from a 2000-year-old rock stratum. Professor Gast named this life form Jenova."

Akuma ran up to Sephiroth, barking for some reason. He turned around, looked at Akuma with a raised brow, and looked at me.

"Rin. I trust Zack and the others made it back?"

For a moment, I just stared at him. "Yes, they're fine. The guide is fine, as well."

Sephiroth just nodded, and went back to his reading, now silent. Akuma barked again, this time using all three heads.

Sephiroth visibly flinched. He then sighed, and put the book down. "I'm sorry, Rin. I… don't know what's come over me." His brows were knitted together, and he leaned against the metal table in the middle of the room. "Has Zack told you what happened at the reactor?"

I went and leaned next to him, and together we watched Akuma explore the room, and what appeared to be the adjacent office. "Yes. Genesis is alive?"

Sephiroth slowly nodded. "Severely degraded, but alive. He discovered he needs my cells to become restored."

"Oh, so that's what he meant…" The bit Zack told me made sense now. "How did he find _that _out?"

"My guess is that Hollander told him. Whether it is true or not, remains to be seen…" he trailed off, adding to list of 'Things-that-Sephiroth-doesn't-normally-do'. Said list had reached such a length that it made me uneasy. It didn't help that my mind felt like it was underwater; going from one thought to the next was, for some reason, extremely difficult.

The feeling increased to a point where I wasn't even aware of Sephiroth next to me, or that my hand had come up to grasp my head. Then Akuma barked again, and the feeling was chased away into the echo.

I let my hand fall, and looked up at Sephiroth, who seemed to be experiencing similar symptoms. He was now looking at the dog, who sat there, looking as concerned as a cerberus can possibly be. His wings seemed to droop a bit.

I bent over and picked him up, feeling his tail curl around my arm. He didn't normally do that, only when he was stressed or scared.

"Did you… feel that?" I asked, almost afraid he would say, 'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

He paused. "…Yes. That is why I have been… researching these documents." He did the Sephiroth version of shaking his head (stretching his neck a bit) and went over to the book he put down earlier.

"When we conversed, Genesis informed me that Jenova was a life form discovered some time ago by the scientist Professor Gast. Apparently, experimentation was done, concerning the effect the cells collected from the life form had on humans, in varying stages of life. Those experiments resulted in beings like Genesis and Angeal, and yourself. Those experiments were called the Jenova Project."

I drank all the information in, not missing the heaviness of his words. This seemed to matter a great deal to him.

"Is that why Angeal thought he was a monster?" I asked, digging my fingers into Akuma plush fur. "Because he was created… with these cells?"

Sephiroth stopped pacing. "I would imagine so."

I looked up at him, met his eyes, completely serious, and asked:

"Are we?"

* * *

You guys better review if you want more, cuz right now I'm not feeling very FF VII-ish... Convice me otherwise!


	14. XIV Thunder and Wildfire

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This is it, folks. I had about half a chapter done and just sitting around, but then I decided to scrap it and wrote this all in two days ^_^ Sorry, this chapter jumps perspectives a lot, you might get dizzy. I can't help it, I like writing from different points of view. Do you guys like third or first person better? I sort of like third better...

The most you guys are going to get after this is an epiliouge. But don't worry, the story is hardly over yet. Theres two more volumes to write! I hope yall like Kingdom Hearts...

And once again, **FANART IS ON MY PROFILE. Look at it, or else!**

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* * *

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Rin P.O.V.

I never got my answer. Not from Sephiroth, anyway. The room disappeared, leaving a black abyss decorated only with the forms of the general, Akuma and myself.

Chains made of blue ice sprang forth from the darkness and attached themselves to Sephiroth like puppet strings. Akuma, who had been resting on his feet, immediately sprang up, snarling.

Sephiroth tried resisting the binds. I had a feeling he's been attacked like this more than once, but from all the recent stress caused by Genesis, all the doubt within himself, only made more chains appear and reinforced the ones already existing.

A cruel laugh penetrated the abyss with silver tendrils, slinking around me and Akuma. That blue woman appeared, and draped herself over the now-restrained Sephiroth.

"**Now now, that's no way to treat your mother, resisting like this**." She said, sounding malicious even with a sweet tone of voice. Sephiroth's scowl spread to a full grown snarl and he struggled even more.

"No one controls me. Especially not you, Jenova. You aren't my mother." He spat out.

An evil glint in her eyes, she whispered back, "**Are you sure?**"

Jenova. Flashes of her in a mako tank invaded my mind, zooming in on the metal plate engraved with J.E.N.O.V.A. Now the dots were connected.

Jenova is an alien. Sentient, not just some corpse dug up from a rock to collect cells from. Still bent on taking over the world, and would do anything that was necessary to achieve her goals. The sheer power she exerted was…frightening.

"**Oh, what a bright child. So many of those so called scientists fail to reach that understanding**." Jenova said, turning briefly to look at me. She turned back. "**What a good job you've done, my son**."

Growling, I ran forward with Akuma at my heels, but those silver tendrils snapped and formed a barrier between us and Sephiroth. I drew my sword in the blink of an eye and slashed away. Nothing. I could only yell.

Akuma barked, loudly. It seemed to echo endlessly through the darkness, and Jenova flinched so badly that she fell off Sephiroth. She whipped around , eyes glowing with fire.

"**You! Servant of Minerva! You will muzzle yourself!**"

She made a flicking motion toward Akuma; a fireball struck him in the face. I immediately cried out and scooped him up, but he didn't seem to be hurt- only muted, as all three jaws were going furiously but nothing came out.

I continued my assault on the wall, trying every cut, trick, technique I was taught. I didn't know what Jenova was going to do, but I knew I had to stop her. Somehow.

She glared over at me from her position in front of Sephiroth.

"**No need to be impatient, child. Your turn will come soon enough**."

The hairs on my neck and arms stood up.

Jenova faced my guardian, who was still fighting his restraints. She raised a hand, and planted it on his chest. It sank through, and she continued to sink until she was no longer visible. A shadow of Jenova appeared behind Sephiroth, whose struggles had suddenly grown weaker. He gave one last protest before he fell still. I couldn't breathe. He looked up at me, and the silver walls disappeared.

The chains hissed and melted away. Sephiroth raised his head, and stepped forward. But it was all wrong. His eyes…

"Y-you're not Sephiroth," I said, tightening my grip on my blade. I really didn't think I could use it against him in a real battle. I tried to shift to a different position, one I've perfected from facing holograms of Sephiroth's older data. But it felt like the water that had clogged my mind earlier had now slowed my limbs, making it painfully slow to move.

He walked over to me, stretching his hand out like Jenova did. My heart sped up, making my slowness even more obvious to me. He grabbed me around the throat, making me drop my sword to grasp his hand with both of mine.

Chains like the ones that bound Sephiroth earlier began to snake around me. My fear level increased- if Sephiroth couldn't break free, what chance did I have?

Ice stung the skin on both my arms, even though one was covered by my armlet. Sephiroth dropped me, and I yanked and pulled with a surprising amount of success before they tightened. Something also clamped on my mind—the blue lady, Jenova.

"**Stop that now**," she cooed, referring to my struggles. "**You will be one with Mother now**."

Indeed, no matter how much I willed my body to continue heaving, it simply wouldn't. Akuma, where was Akuma? I couldn't see him anymore. Was he swallowed by the darkness? My breath was stolen, and my vision was becoming blurry.

"You're…not…my mother…" I gasped out with difficulty; Jenova started to comb her cold fingers through my hair with some sort of sick affection.

Memories of my real mother came to me, even though I was very small the last time I saw her. Feelings of helplessness and pain filled me, as more of my motor functions were taken away by this_monster_. Why? Why Sephiroth? Why me…?

The last thoughts that swam in my mind before everything went black:

My mother—her image, her eyes—they were like mine… not Jenova's…

* * *

Genesis P.O.V.

The ex-SOLDIER floated easily on the warm updrafts created by the blazing town below him. He saw Zack Fair, Ageal's puppy, burst from the INN, and immediately start to help to locals evacuate. He scoffed.

"_My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains. The arrow has left the bow of the Goddess._"

Genesis rotated to see the puppet Sephiroth and mini puppet Rin take out some civilians. He frowned at that. Jenova must really want to trash Seph's reputation. Rin…

He felt a pang of regret for the girl. That's been happening a lot lately, ever since he deflected from ShinRa. Even though he had been doing the same sort of missions since he was her age, he still thought a child should not have to be involved in a tragedy such as theirs. But apparently, Jenova does not discriminate.

He heard a roar from Zack, who rushed over just in time to see the destructive duo retreat into the flames.

'_Sephiroth…Why couldn't you just help me? Then none of this would've happened…'_ Genesis thought, depressed. Nevertheless, he decided to follow the pair, becoming invisible against the night sky.

* * *

Rin Third P.O.V.

Rin was helpless. She could still see and feel everything Jenova made her do—could hear the screams of the townspeople as she cut into them, could feel the blood running down her arms and speckling her face.

She and Sephiroth were now connected through Jenova, and she could tell he was in a similar state. He hated taking the lives of innocents, hated staining his already drenched hands with more blood. She knew it was worse for him, because Jenova was humming about it in their heads. While Rin was only partly made up of her cells, Sephiroth, who was introduced to them in the womb, was made almost completely out of her cells. Sephiroth was a complete puppet, while Rin was just a dog on a leash.

All the way to the reactor (she knew where they were going because Jenova broadcasted everything) she tested her restraints. She gained control of her eyes momentarily when Sephiroth decided to try rebelling again. Thoughts were still hidden to Jenova in Rin's mind, but she wasn't so sure about Sephiroth. She flexed her hand when he did it a second time.

'_It's probably because she's controlling both of us at once',_Rin mused. _'Sephiroth is able to_try _and fight her off because her attention is divided between us. When she diverts more of her attention to Sephiroth, it relaxes the bonds on_me.'

She smiled inwardly. Then that would mean if _she_attracted Jenova's attention, Sephiroth would have more slack to use.

Rin focused with all her might to make her legs stop moving. She heard a snarl come from Jenova, but they did stop. A moment later, she felt someone else step into her body and make her start moving again.

**Don't even try it, little pup, or—**

She was cut off, and Rin felt her leave her body. She grinned as the control was loosened, also because Sephiroth had managed to drop his sword.

Jenova was getting frustrated. She made Sephiroth grab Rin (not very gently) and take off towards the reactor. She put increased control in Sephiroth, allowing Rin to wiggle slightly, but she had no chance of escaping Sephiroth's arms, even if she did have full control.

Rin had plenty of time to think on the ride there. What if Jenova makes Sephiroth kill Zack, or any of the others? Just thinking about killing the townspeople made her sick. What would she do if Zack died…?

They arrived, and Sephiroth dumped Rin onto the hard metal floor of the reactor. Angry, Rin made her body immobile, and trying to heave Jenova out of her body. She'd had enough.

"This is MY body… damn it…" she gasped out, surprised when Jenova actually did flee. Blinking as if she'd come up from underwater, Rin stood up and faced Sephiroth.

"This is going to end." Was all she could think of to say, and drew her sword to back up the statement.

Sephiroth smirked, and raised the Masamune. Rin grimaced, and then charged. She swung at his belly, but expected to be parried. She watched his blade flicker in what seemed to be indecision, but she knew it was Sephiroth fighting Jenova's commanded to slice her in two.

But the blade did sweep down, and tapped Rin's sword so it flew out of her hands and into the ground a couple feet away. Before she could even think, Sephiroth slashed Rin from shoulder to hip, knocking her to the ground next to her sword.

Breathing hurt. Rin felt tears prick the corners of her eyes. She never thought that _she_might be the one to die in this mess. Sephiroth would never let that happen… She couldn't feel the presence of Jenova anymore. It didn't matter, because she no longer had the energy to move anyway. She couldn't even bring herself to look downwards at the wound on her chest. It hurt too much.

Sephiroth's face came and blocked her view of the ceiling. His eyes… they were different. She wondered briefly if her eyes had changed while she was under Jenova too. Sephiroth's eyes had too much blue in them now. They weren't that perfect jade color anymore.

Sephiroth's slitted pupils dilated, and then closed. Something wet fell on Rin's check, but she figured it was just more blood. Sephiroth backed away, and continued into the depths of the reactor.

About ten minutes later, rushed footsteps woke Rin from the darkness. Her chest still hurt, and when she heard a familiar strangled gasp, her heart began to ache too. Zack.

"Rin!" he fell heavily to his kneels beside the girl, hands reaching out, but stopping at the sight of her wound. He pushed the sweaty and bloody hair out of her face instead.

"H-how did this happen…" Zack choked out, who had already cursed himself five times over for not having any Restore Materia. "Did Sephiroth…?"

Rin managed to nod her head, and look up at Zack. He was relived to see that her eyes had gone back to purple, and that the pupils were no longer slitted like a cat's. "He's… not Sephiroth… anymore…" Zack's eyes widened. "I… wasn't… me either… but…" she had to stop, as coughing overrode her speaking ability.

"Stop, don't worry about it," Zack said, voice wavering slightly, "Listen… I'm gonna come back for you. But if… if something happens, and I don't come back, can you promise me something?" he took out a potion, his last. He used it on her, and even though it didn't make a dent in her chest wound, it helped restore her voice.

"O-of course, Zack."

He picked up Rin's hand, and put on his best puppy face. "Look after Aerith for me?"

Rin couldn't help but copy his smile. "No problem. Go get him…"

Zack let her fall back into unconsciousness, and put her sword back in its scabbard before charging into the back of the reactor, where Sephiroth waited.

* * *

Genesis P.O.V.

He was sitting on a large boulder, and had just watched Zack Fair storm into Nibelheim's reactor. Genesis rested his chin on his hand, and lamented,

"_My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I? All that awaits you is a somber morrow, no matter where the winds may blow."_

His train of thought was interrupted by a creature attacking him from behind. Snarling, Genesis drew his rapier, but halting him mid-swipe when he saw what had tackled him.

It was the girl's cerberus, Akumo or Akashi, or something like that. It growled at him, revealing all three sets of teeth.

"You want to play, little doggie? Fine, play with me." Genesis droned.

It growled some more, then took off in the direction of the reactor. Genesis just stood there, confused, as it came back again, growled, and took off again.

"What, do you want me to follow you or something? Why should I?" the ex-SOLDIER just scowled at the frustrated dog.

The cerberus came up to him and bit the hem of his _beautiful_and _most treasured_red coat. It began to drag him towards the reactor with surprising ease, but Genesis did not approve at all.

"Alright, alright, enough! I'll go." He muttered, while digging his heels into the ground. The dog let go, and yipped happily. It trotted off, with Genesis not far behind.

The cerberus scampered through the main entrance of the reactor, leaving Genesis no choice but to do the same. He would have preferred to fly in, but he figured the canine would not like that.

He could hear voices arguing farther in, but that's not what caught his attention. The dog was sitting next to the body of his owner, the girl. Rin.

He sighed. "Now what has become of our younger generation?" He drawled, stepping closer. The dog looked over its shoulder at him with one head, and whined.

The girl had a long gash stretching from one shoulder to the opposite hip. Her breathing was shallow, but the wound was beginning to crust and seemed to have stopped bleeding. The dog licked her face restlessly.

"Hmph…there you are, Akuma." He heard her mutter. Her eyes were still closed, however.

Akuma. That was it. "Rin. Long time no see?" Genesis asked peering down at the girl.

Rin opened the eye closest to him. "What do you want, Genesis?" she asked, sounding defeated.

"Oh, I think you're asking the wrong person, dear. It was your little beastie there that dragged me here." Genesis said, nudging Akuma with his foot.

Rin sighed. "What a good boy you are, Akuma…"

Genesis could hear fighting going on—the crashes and slaps of steel on steel reverberated throughout the reactor.

"Genesis, can I ask you a favor?" the girl said, now looking at him instead of the ceiling. "I need a ride to Midgar. I promised someone I'd look after someone there."

Genesis's eyebrow raised, then glanced in the direction of the noises. He really didn't want to get involved in that, as he was sure Jenova would really like to see him dead. For good, this time.

Genesis exhaled noisily. "I suppose I can, as it would weigh heavily on my heart to leave a poor maiden in such a state." He bent down and picked her up, careful not to reopen her wound. Rin thanked him before falling back into the state of unconsciousness.

Genesis glared at the cerberus. "What about you, doggie? I am most certainly not giving _you_a ride."

Akuma huffed, insulted at Genesis's poor judgment. He spread his quite obvious wings, and leapt into the air. He then circles Genesis's head, mocking him by flicking his head with his tail.

"Insolent beast…" muttered Genesis, before spreading his own wing and taking off through one of the numerous holes near the top of the reactor.

Genesis followed Akuma through the skies, racing sunlight over mountain tops and the raging surface of the ocean that separated the large continents. Rin woke up only once, and asked a simple question:

"Is there anything I can do to help _you_, Genesis?" she asked, barely audible through the racing wind of flight.

Genesis smirked, but sadness clouded his eyes. "No. Only Sephiroth could've, but he is no longer an option," he paused, "You know, he's never coming back, right? Sephiroth's gone. Forever." he growled when he noticed Rin had fallen back to sleep without hearing anything he just said. "Children these days…"

He watched Akuma enviously, who was entertaining himself by doing spirals and loop-de-loops in the early morning light. Genesis sometimes did such things, but didn't want to _upset_the load he carried. He was above such frivolities anyway.

Akuma led him over Midgar, where they descended under the plate, into the Sector 5 slums. The dog hovered in the air for a moment, his three noises working furiously. Just as Genesis was about to yell at him to hurry up or they'll be spotted, the cerberus took off in the direction of the rather nice part of the slum. After some more sniffing, he dove into a rather large hole in the roof of a church. Muttering about all the places the mutt could've picked, he followed, careful not to hit any of the boards still sticking out the roof.

Akuma had taken a seat in the middle of a patch of flowers were somehow growing beneath the plate. The dog made an odd yowl when Genesis touched down beside him.

"Alright, if this is what you want…" Genesis said, setting Rin down next to her pet. "I trust you're meeting someone here?" he asked Akuma awkwardly.

The cerberus nodded, then crawled over to Rin and feel asleep on her arm. For some reason, Genesis had a feeling that they would be fine. He could feel the Goddess especially close here, and trusted she would look after the young girl.

"_There is no hate, only joy. For you are beloved by the Goddess. Hero of the dawn, healer of worlds. I offer thee this silent sacrifice._"

And with that, Genesis made his exit, an odd feeling blooming in his chest.

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Sorry its so short, but that's what happened. Like I said before, its not over yet. I'm afraid that's probably the last time we're going to see Genesis though... a shame, I did rather enjoy writing him. ^_^ Hope you've all enjoyed Part I, there's two more to go (I think _) Please let me know what you think, and if you have any advice or notice of grammar/spelling errors.

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	15. XV Epilogue

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**Hey guys, now THIS is the last chapter. Well, half-chapter. Epilogue-thing. ANYWAY. I'm going to be posting a couple one-shots inspired by some of Rin's memories below- they've been swimming around my head for a while and I want to write them out in detail, if you guys are interested. Writing cute moments is just too much fun XD The one-shots will just be scenes I wanted to write but couldn't fit in the story. Deleted scenes much? Drop a review if you want to see!**

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Rin's P.O.V.

I was confused when I woke up among white and yellow flowers. When I had sat up, I realized all my wounds were gone. So was the whole thing a dream? Just a terrible nightmare that I had finally awaken from?

I was brought out of my reverie by Akuma's soft tail brushing my arm. He was on his back, playing with a large onyx-colored feather, which refused to bend or break in the cerberus's powerful grip. My hand found my own feather that lay beneath my shirt. The stone carving, which was usually warm from being close to my skin, was cold. I dropped my gaze to the beautiful flowers as the heavy boulder of helplessness and grief fell mercilessly into my stomach. _Sephiroth… gone…my mentor, my guardian, my friend…_

I laid back down, and saw memories flit swiftly across my closed eyelids.

_Me sleeping on top of Sephiroth while on a mission in the Northern Continent; one of the few times he had allowed me to share his bed. It had been too cold to sleep alone, so he let me fall asleep with my head tucked under his chin. I could feel his strong arms around me, making me feel safe and protected while a snowstorm raged outside our tent._

_Sephiroth teaching me to swim in Costa de Sol, after the sun had fallen and away from the eyes of nosy tourists. I was at least eight years old by then. Swimming was very hard at first, and the giggling dolphins that swam lazily nearby only stung my pride further. Sephiroth and I were both shirtless, as wet clothes tend to hinder movement. In the end, I became a master swimmer, even though we had barely spoken a dozen words to each other—Sephiroth was just that good of a teacher._

_Wutai. After that disastrous mission where Genesis deserted, I thought it was all over. The others were never going to find me. I was tired, so tired… I didn't feel like walking anymore, let alone use my voice to call for help. I only wanted to rest my eyes for a minute…_

_The Heartless. Yellow eyes…clawing, twitching fingers…Jenova's hollow laugh… _

A cool hand covered my forehead.

"Time to wake up, sweetie…"

I opened my eyes to see Aerith's face smiling down at me. I sat up, panicking slightly.

"Aerith! I'm sorry, am I crushing the flowers…?"

"No, no, you're fine, but I want to get you cleaned up. It looks like your wounds are fully healed too!" she said cheerfully.

I carefully stood up, and stared at Akuma when he took flight and landed on the rafters.

Aerith looked up at him. "He says he'll stay here. Is that okay?"

I nodded. Aerith took my hand and together we left the church. She started to lead me to what I assumed was her home.

"Aerith… Zack asked me to look after you until he got back. But I don't know when that'll be. Is that okay?" I asked, not wanting to be sent back to ShinRa.

She only smiled at me again. "Of course. But only if you let me look after you too, okay?"

I smiled. "Deal."

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Third P.O.V.

~Four years later~

Rin stood nonchalantly against a nearby building, as Aerith flittered around the Market Area in the Slums. Both she and Aerith had matured somewhat over the years- Aerith now wore a pink dress, and a little more reserved. Rin was thirteen years old now, and had grown quite a bit. Her style had changed little, however- and now she was accustomed to wearing her hood while in the streets. Rin's sword was still at her hip, like always. The onyx wing still hung around her neck, and was still cold from that day in Nibelheim. Akuma rarely left the church nowadays, but Aerith and Rin were there often enough that he didn't mind.

It was a typical morning, until Rin spotted a man in a dark suit walking casually down from the train station area. A Turk. He only glanced at her, then Aerith, and continued out of the ex-SOLDIER's sight. She sighed.

Living with Aerith was very nice for someone like Rin. Aerith's mother loved her, delighted to have a second adopted daughter. Having female figures around was unusual for Rin, but it came in handy when things like puberty came knocking.

Rin didn't go back to school, and spent most of the day escorting Aerith while she sold flowers. Well, to Aerith it wasn't escorting, only accompanying. Even though Aerith was rarely bothered, it put her mother's mind as well as Rin's to ease when she accompanies her through the dangerous parts of the slums. Rin actually liked going through such places, as it kept her sword skills sharp through beating up perverts and muggers. Akuma didn't know what he was missing.

Together, Rin and Aerith set off for the church to set up that day's flower wagon. Zack built the wagons a long time ago, before… never mind. Rin had grown used to dropping such thoughts whenever they entered her head.

Akuma greeted them with a yowl high up from the ceiling. He was sunbathing, as usual. He also chased mice and rabbits away from the flowers whenever some turned up.

"Hey Rin, do you mind taking a look at the cart? One of the nails is sticking out, I must've knocked it loose somehow…" Aerith asked, as she started to weed the white and yellow blossoms.

"Sure, no problem." The thirteen-year-old bent over and inspected the wagon, spotting the nail almost immediately. Frowning, she drew her sword and tapped the troublesome piece of metal back into place using the end of the handle. "Fixed it."

"Thanks…" Aerith trailed off, as if just realizing something. A light drizzle started to come in through the hole in the roof, making Rin scowl.

"Bah, rain… No rounds today…" she muttered, as Aerith clasped her hands together. "Hey…are you okay?" Rin asked, getting worried.

Aerith said nothing for a few moments; she just stood and felt the rain come down.

"He came back…" she whispered, as tears started to join the raindrops on her face.

Rin stood there dumbfounded for a moment, and then went over to comfort her adopted sister.

She didn't understand what Aerith had meant until two days later, when she saw a man with outrageously spiked blond hair dressed in a SOLDIER uniform and wielding an eerily familiar Buster Sword.

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**...On to Meteorfall. Some love would be nice :D And btw, when the next story in the series is posted, the whole thing will already be done. I wont post it until it is completed, just so not to torture you guys ^_^**

_**Even if the morrow is barren of promises**_  
_**Nothing shall forestall my return**_  
_**To become the dew that quenches the land**_  
_**To spare the sands, the seas, the skies**_  
_**I offer thee this silent sacrifice**_

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	16. Extra 1: The White Rose of Wutai

**Hey everyone! I've been dying to see what would happen if I mixed Rin up with Yuffie, and here's the result! Look out for Yuffie in Accomplice! Again, check out the fanart links of Rin on my profile if you haven't done so already!**

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Rin's P.O.V.

"Move! Ungfh! Get out of the way!" I shouted as I tried to push myself through a crowd of people. I was not having much luck due to my small stature. With my strength I could easily shove over whoever happened to be in front of me, but that was very rude and I tried to avoid it as much as possible.

About 15 minutes ago, a girl similar to me in age had "accidentally" bumped into me as I was walking down the streets of Wutai. Only after Akuma had started to bark at her retreating form did I notice that all my materia was gone. By the time I realized this, she was gone—but I had Akuma's nose at my disposal.

Now here I was, running down the streets of Wutai like a mad person trying to catch this girl. The town of Wutai is built over water, and is composed of mainly narrow streets and narrow bridges, making navigation difficult for visitors like me. I had only gotten a brief glimpse of her as she bumped into me, but did manage to see her face. It was a Wutainese girl, with a shinobi-like headband around her forehead.

Akuma skidded to a stop outside of what looked like a weapon shop. He whined, signaling he had lost the scent. This baffled me, as Akuma has never failed to follow a scent before.

"Hey, kid! You look like a Yuffie victim." said a nearby man who was leaning against the wall of the weapon shop, smoking a cigarette.

"A what?" I replied, confused.

"Yuffie. The local materia thief. Goes around calling herself a ninja?"

"Is she around my age? Wears a headband?"

"That's Yuffie. She's Lord Godo's daughter—he lives up in the northern part of town. You should try there."

I bowed slightly to the man. "Thank you very much! C'mon, Akuma."

Lord Godo's house was situated right next to the giant 5 story pagoda that loomed over the rest of the town. I told Akuma to wait outside before going up to the door and knocking. A harried looking servant answered, and barked at me in Wutainese.

"U-uh, I'm looking for Yuffie?" I tried, hoping she would understand. A look of understanding passed over her face, and she pulled me inside. The house was very well decorated, and I couldn't help but stare at the richness of it. Wutainese culture had always fascinated me.

The servant stopped outside a room, and pushed me inside it. It was a study—an entire wall was taken up by shelves of scrolls and books. A man was sitting at a desk at the back of the room, facing away from me. By how he was dressed, I guessed that he was Lord Godo.

"Another one of Yuffie's victims, perhaps?" He said, without looking at me.

"Um, yes sir…" was my reply, and I felt slight embarrassment that I allowed myself to be a victim in the first place.

"Do not despair, child. Yuffie has pilfered people far older and more experienced than you, and very few manage to ever get their things back."

Before he could say anymore, Yuffie herself came bursting through what must have been a fake wall.

"That's right! And you won't get your stuff back either, loser!" she said, before dropping a smoke bomb and vanishing.

Godo started to swear viciously as the room filled with smoke, and I made a hasty retreat after Yuffie. I chased her all the way down to center part of town before losing her again. Muttering curses that I wasn't supposed to know, I started to look around for anyone who might've seen where she went. The first couple people had no clue, but a small boy outside the Item Shop said he saw her go inside.

As I entered, the Item Shop appeared to be empty. Near the back corner, I saw the glow of materia sitting on top of an old chest. Confused, I went up and grabbed it. It was an MP Absorb Materia, sweet find! But before I could pocket it and resume my search for Yuffie, the thief herself dropped down from the rafters above me and pounced on me. I was knocked to the floor with a grunt, and before I knew it the materia was snatched out of my hand and Yuffie was nowhere in sight.

Determined not to be evaded, I quickly got back on my feet and rushed outside. I could actually see Yuffie running away, and took off after her with the best speed I was capable of. This was getting ridiculous—what would Sephiroth think if he knew that I had managed to be both pick-pocketed and outrun?

She soon ran into a house, so I did too. Inside was empty, but I checked behind a nearby screen just in case. Sure enough, Yuffie sprang out over me, and was off again. I lost her near a restaurant called Turtle's Paradise, only to spot a very suspicious shaking pot near the far corner of the building. Without hesitation I smashed the pot with a kick, pouring all my frustration into it. As the pot shattered, Yuffie popped out, and I finally seized her by the hood on her shirt.

"Alright, alright, you win! You can have your materia back! Just don't hurt me!" she said as she saw the murder in my eyes.

Now that she was no longer running away from me, I could finally get a good look at her. She was wearing a green hooded kimono-style shirt that was trimmed with yellow. She had short cut black hair, as well as the ninja headband.

"I'm the great ninja Yuffie Kisaragi! You must be pretty great too, as you've managed to capture me. What's your name?"

"Rin. Now, if you don't hand over my materia, I _will _hurt you."

"Sheesh, alright, calm down! It's back at my hideout, follow me!" she said as she seized my wrist and began to lead me somewhere.

She didn't seem like she was about to run off—the whole chase had just been a game to her, and she had now clearly given up.

"You have a hideout? You can't be any older than me!" I said in disbelief.

"Hey, of course I have a hideout! I'm the greatest ninja in the world! And how old are you?" she retorted.

"Seven."

"Ha, I'm nine!"

"You certainly don't seem nine."

"Hey, watch it! Do you want your materia back or not?"

"I think _you're _the one who should watch it if you don't give it back."

"Pffft."

Yuffie soon led me down into a basement that she called her hideout. It was finely furnished like the rest of her house- I saw punching bags and wooden targets peppered with ninja stars along the walls and in every corner, all bearing signs of heavy use.

"Over there—pull the left switch, and it'll open the secret compartment with your materia in it." Yuffie said, gesturing to two switches on the far wall.

"No tricks, right?"

"Nope. Not at all!" She flashed me a big grin.

Warily I made my way over to the switch and pulled it. A giant cage crashed down from the ceiling and trapped me as Yuffie roared with laughter.

"Sucker! You totally fell for it!" she said gleefully as she went and pulled the other switch. A small compartment opened, and Yuffie pulled out a small bag.

"Here's your materia! But I guess you can't get it now!"

Seething, I gripped the bars and tried to bend them. No such luck.

"You better hope you are far away from me when I get out of here…" I said, gritting my teeth.

"Ha! Please, you're only seven! I'm not scared of you!"

"Really? Why don't you prove it, in a fair fight?"

"I'm a ninja! I don't fight fair!"

"Then you're just a big chicken!"

Yuffie began to climb up the stairs to the outside. "How about this—if you can manage to get out of there by sundown, meet me on top of the Da-chao Mountain. You'll get your "fair fight"."

She didn't give me a chance to reply before escaping the room. Sighing, I slumped back against the bars of the cage. Sundown was only an hour away at the most. I tried rocking the cage as hard as I could, but it was rooted firmly into the ground. Even though I was a small child, I still could not fit my head and shoulders between the bars. I had already tried bending the bars, but to no avail. I bet Sephiroth could have bent them—that reminded me, Sephiroth expected me back at camp my sundown! I could only imagine what would happen if I failed to show up; a massacre would not be unlikely.

My fears vanished as I heard a bark from the stairway, and sure enough Akuma emerged. He easily fit through the bars to greet me.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you, boy! Go and hit that lever on the left, and see if it gets this thing to go back up."

Akuma did as he was told, and the cage did indeed retract, freeing me.

"You get extra treats when we get home!" I promised as I scooped him up to give a kiss to all three of his heads. He wriggled free and put up a façade of nonchalance before trotting up the stairs to the outside.

Ten minutes later, after sending Akuma back to camp with news of my whereabouts, I found myself climbing the steep mountain path of Da-chao. Giant human figures had been carved into the mountainside long ago, and the level of detail was simply astounding for such a large scale. The statues themselves were part of the path at some points, and as I neared the top I found myself walking on shoulders and arms. Finally, as I stood on the left elbow of the middle statue, I could see Yuffie sitting in the palm of the statue's hand. The sun was just beginning to touch the horizon.

"Well well well, you managed to get free. I'm not even going to question it, as you seem to be almost as crafty as I am." Yuffie said, as she jumped to her feet.

"Please, I don't want to play this game anymore. Just give me my materia back."

She patted the small bag attached to her belt. "It's right here. But you're going to have to work a little bit more for it, I'm afraid." She said as she gripped a large 4-pointed ninja star.

"Alright, if you want to go there, then you give me no choice." I replied, drawing my own weapon. The sunset made our face off seem like an epic battle was about to ensue, but I knew differently. This would end very shortly.

Yuffie charged at me as she spun the star around a couple fingers, yelling, "Face the wrath of the great ninja Yuffie!"

I charged as well, and with a single well-placed strike with my sword, sent the ninja star flying out of her hand. She quickly counterattacked with a knife in her other hand, but I caught that with my other hand as well and yanked it, forcing her to drop the blade. A knee to the gut sent her sprawling backwards into the ground.

As she laid there, gasping and sputtering, I felt kind of guilty for fighting with her when I knew I had such an unfair advantage. After preaching about fair fights, here I was, beating up a kid that couldn't possibly match my strength or skill. There's no honor in winning a fight like that.

I reached down and grabbed the bag off of Yuffie's belt, and she made no protest nor stopped in her moaning. I checked its contents—all of my materia was there, along with the MP Absorb that Yuffie used as bait. Score!

As I began to walk away, Yuffie's voice rang out once more.

"You! My eternal rival! Don't think this is over! We will meet again, and when we do… I'm gonna win!" she shouted, still on the ground, but sitting up now and pointing a dramatic finger at me.

"... Sure, we'll meet again. But keep dreaming."

An hour later I was safely back at camp and showing Sephiroth the materia I had "found" during my trip to town. He would never, ever know of the true story behind it, because my pride simply wouldn't withstand it.

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**Let me know what you thought of it with a review! It really does make my day! **


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